Do all high streets look the same these days? Perhaps, at times, onshore practitioners may ask a similar question of the world’s leading offshore jurisdictions? Despite a globalisation of offshore products and services, there are still marked differences between the key jurisdictions. Some have excelled and cornered specific markets. Such markets can, however, be transient and customers fickle. Others have fallen foul of supranational initiatives and their market shares have declined accordingly.
Meanwhile, the need for international acceptance has been embraced strongly by some but not others: witness the recent proliferation of tax exchange agreement negotiations between low and high tax jurisdictions. Differences do therefore regularly appear as jurisdictions must adapt to survive and prosper.
