If you are a tourist swinging in a hammock beachside somewhere in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Bahamas or the British Virgin Islands (BVI), life is probably very tranquil. But if you are a bank, insurance company or any other financial institution with a base in one of these four island countries, life has been anything but of late.
First up, there were the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) initiatives on money laundering and harmful tax competition to contend with. Next came the catastrophic events of 11 September, followed soon after by a couple of giant-sized corporate scandals. And then, in the meantime, there has been prolonged economic downturn in the US to worry about.