A rearguard action to fend off the “action against tax and regulatory havens” threatened by Gordon Brown and other world leaders is being launched by some of Britain’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.
From the Financial Times:
A rearguard action to fend off the “action against tax and regulatory havens” threatened by Gordon Brown and other world leaders is being launched by some of Britain’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.
They are among 35 small states and territories braced for possible sanctions after the US administration last week endorsed anti-tax haven legislation and political leaders in France, Germany and the UK stepped up their anti-haven rhetoric ahead of next month’s G20 meeting.
Leading offshore centres are pleading for a more discriminate approach. Geoff Cook of Jersey Finance, which represents the island’s financial industry, says: “The thing we worry about is we are being tarred with the same brush as everyone else.”
Deborah Drummond, deputy financial secretary of the Cayman Islands, the world’s largest hedge fund centre, says: “We fear a very indiscriminate position will be taken which owes more to protectionism and prejudice than judgement and intellectual application.”
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