So what to make of the recent seemingly bold moves to allow foreigners participating in the Chinese bond market and
offshore banks in Hong Kong to transfer renminbi freely among them?
"However with the Government so determined to claw back this unpaid tax and maintaining strong pressure on the
offshore banks - many of whom are subsidiaries of UK banks - to reveal all, the gamble is too great a risk to take.
The MAS earlier renamed ''restricted banks'' as ''wholesale banks'' to simplify its licensing system to a two-tier regime of full banks and wholesale banks from its three-tier regime of full, restricted and
offshore banks.
Northern and Grand Banks fish spawned on respective portions of the
offshore banks, sowing the ocean currents with trillions of eggs.
The criminals used these accounts to launder millions of dollars to
offshore banks, according to Tom O'Connell, an INS agent on the case.
O'Shea said that the expatriate community is an important market to operate within and that most expatriates perceive that
offshore banks are somewhat of an unnecessary evil because they do not really service the expatriate's needs.
This eliminates the bias created by the large amounts of FDI present in
offshore banks that really have little affect on output.
?Digibank has joined the ranks of Class-A licensed
offshore banks of the Commonwealth of Dominica, the company said.
Offshore banks have helped Australian banks create significant inroads into overseas banks, while delivering multimillion dollar tax breaks to the big four banks and the Macquarie Group.
Belize is not a major regional financial center but, in an attempt to diversify its economic activities, authorities have encouraged the growth of offshore financial activities that are vulnerable to money laundering, including
offshore banks, insurance companies, trust service providers, mutual fund companies, and international business companies.
Most
offshore banks will offer accounts in the major currencies and the currencies most used by expatriates," Ashley notes.
A similar agency existed before the fraud scheme, but only monitored
offshore banks. The First International Bank of Grenada collapsed in 2000 after its owner promised investors huge returns from the bank, which he said was backed by a US$20 million ruby carved into a statue of a boy on a water buffalo.