Florida Conference Scrutinizes Wonderful World of Offshore Banking & Finance

 

PRESS RELEASE: One of the largest gatherings in the USA of private and public sector practitioners in the complex world of offshore banking, finance and insurance will gather in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 13-15, 2008 for the 6th OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference.

 

US economy being 'killed' by too many rules and regulations, says US consultant

 

INTERVIEW: Over-regulation of its financial markets is "killing" the economy of the United States, according to an Arizona-based financial due diligence consultant.

 

Client-Confidentiality may be compromised when traveling in U.S., says technology consultant

 

ARTICLE: With a growing number of incidents of travelers having electronic devices seized at U. S. airports by Government agents wanting to access the information stored on them, even if it is password-protected, businessmen in offshore financial centers and elsewhere who value client-confidentiality ought to think long and hard before taking laptop computers and other data-storage devices with them on trips to the United States, says Washington, DC-based technology consultant Mark D. Rasch.

 

Greatest threat to offshore centers is competition amongst themselves, not the US, says consultant

 

INTERVIEW: The greatest threat to established OFCs like Bermuda, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands is not the United States but competition amongst themselves and the threat posed by emerging financial centers like Dubai and Singapore.

 

Cayman plans to compete with Bermuda in offshore reinsurance

 

ARTICLE: The potential of the Cayman Islands to rival Bermuda as a fully-fledged, commercial offshore market for international reinsurance will be one of the issues scrutinized at the 6th OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference, which is being held in Fort Lauderdale on April 13-15, 2008.

 

Paying taxes is a 'legal' obligation, not a 'moral' one, says Cayman Islands regulator

 

CaymanNetNews, March 6, 2008: Attacks on offshore financial centres for helping individuals and businesses in the world's major countries legally to reduce their tax liabilities are unwarranted, according to a senior Cayman Islands regulator.

 

Offshore Bank Secrecy a Relic of the Past

 

ARTICLE: Recent bank secrecy scandals in Liechtenstein and the Cayman Islands emphasize the need for offshore financial centers to offer something other than secrecy if they are to thrive in the modern era.

 

Client Screening: Like looking for a needle in a haystack

 

ARTICLE: In an era when they are being overloaded with Know Your Customer data, a phenomenon known as 'False Positives' are the bane of a compliance officer's life.

 

Session on Cuba added to the 6th OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference

 

PRESS RELEASE: With Fidel Castro about to step down as President, a session that will look at Cuba’s potential as an offshore financial center, to rival regional giants such as Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands, has been added to the Jurisdictions 360° track of the 6th OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference that will be held on April 13-15, 2008 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL USA.

 

Paying taxes is a 'legal' obligation, not a 'moral' one, says offshore regulator

 

INTERVIEW: Read an interview, conducted by OffshoreAlert, with Tim Ridley, chairman of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, where he discusses the positive influence OFCs and legal offshore products have on the global economy.

 

Identifying Red Flags in Offshore Companies

 

ARTICLE: Less than three weeks away from the start of the trial of five defendants accused of committing one of the biggest offshore frauds in modern times, the journalist who exposed the scam still marvels at how investors, bankers, and financial advisers missed so many warning signs.

David Marchant, Publisher of OffshoreAlert, remarks "I still find it remarkable that so many warning signs were missed. That the group operated from the extremely corrupt Caribbean island of Grenada was a jurisdictional red flag, that most investors' money went into unaudited shell companies in the British Virgin Islands was a transparency red flag, the lack of qualifications of its senior people was a background red flag and, of course, offering high rates of return was an investment red flag."

 

Offshore Financial Centers: The Big Debate

 

INTERVIEW: Efforts by major countries to bully offshore financial centers out of business are "hypocritical and misguided", according to a leading advocate of tax competition, Dan Mitchell. Mitchell is a leading proponent of tax reform and works to achieve his goals as a Senior Fellow of The Cato Institute, which is a non-profit, public policy research foundation based in Washington, D.C.

 

However, plenty of people disagree with Mitchell's positive view of the role offshore financial centers play in the global economy and one of them is Richard Murphy, Research Director of the United Kingdom-based Tax Justice Network, which campaigns for transparency in international finance and opposes secrecy.

 

This inteview gives a preview of what can be expected when economist Dan Mitchell & Richard Hay will go head-to-head with Jack Blum & Richard Murphy for the first time ever in a public forum to openly debate whether offshore financial centers are good or bad for the global economy at the 6th OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference, which will take place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA on April 13-15, 2008.

 

6th OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference – ' The Unexpurgated Offshore'

 

PRESS RELEASE: OffshoreAlert has opened registration for its 6th Financial Due Diligence Conference, to be held at the Fort Lauderdale Grande Hotel & Yacht Club on April 14-15, 2008.

 

The title of this year's conference is 'The Unexpurgated Offshore', a phrase chosen because our event will take a comprehensive and uncensored look at the complex world of offshore finance, both the good and the bad...