The Global regulation of offshore financial centres with reference to Singapore.

Abstract

This thesis sets out to analyse the regulatory bodies' initiatives on offshore financial centres (OFCs) in the context of the hypothesis that Singapore is emerging as the new jurisdiction of choice for global wealth management. The focus is on four major areas; harmful tax practices, money laundering, confidentiality and exchange of information. At a glance, these negative factors are the characteristics of solely an OFC. With initiatives made against their exact method of business and trade, how would the OFCs cope with the regulatory bodies' pressure, and yet not lose their means of survival? They may be facing wealthy and developed nations such as UK and USA, but as a group they have negotiating strength. The OFCs have banded together and made their situations known in several forums with the supranational organisations. The result has been a compromise of the "rules and regulations" laid out in the initiatives, without preventing the major OPCs from functioning as providers of financial services.

Date of Award	4 Jun 2005
Original language	English
Supervisor	Duncan Bentley (Supervisor)