Offshore Banking Cayman

While the Bahamas has the right to feel a little smug with itself the Cayman Islands appears to be getting twitchy.
Readers may remember that when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development first unveiled its list of tax havens, Cayman was not on it.

This was because the islands were part of a group of six - the others being, Bermuda, Cyprus, Malta, Mauritius and San Marino - that agreed to co-operate with the OECD to eliminate “harmful tax practices”.

Offshore Banking Cayman & Countries Like Cayman

Unfortunately for Cayman, its call has been ignored by some of its neighbours. Grenada now says it wants to co-operate with the OECD member states and thinks other jurisdictions should do the same.
“I hope that the message comes out that we need to co-operate together to deal with whatever is perceived to be the problem,” Grenada prime minister Dr Mitchell said. “In other words, if it is perceived that money laundering can be a problem, we do not want it. And if the OECD is confident that it is a real issue, then expect them to work together with us to solve it.”

Offshore Banking Cayman - Big Hammer

Meanwhile, up north a bit, Bermuda, normally a bastion of highly reputable business, is having its name muddied by a UK Inland Revenue investigation into a trust that may be run by Harrods’ boss Mohamed al-Fayed.
The Revenue is said to be studying a complicated tax avoidance scheme which allows Fayed to draw no salary from Harrods but lets him benefit from dividends - totalling millions between 1995 and 1998 - paid by Harrods Holdings to the Bermuda trust.