Where and What is Offshore?

Nobody quite seems to agree on where the word “offshore” first came from – but it most likely developed in the UK . The Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey ) went into the finance business soon after the end of the Second World War. Their unusual constitutional status gave them independence in all domestic affairs, including taxation and banking regulation. It didn't take them long to realise that they could offer a safe, tax-free haven for moderately wealthy, middle class Brits who were being persecuted by successive Labour governments, desperate to pay off the debts of the Second World War.

During the 1970s, Labour governments in the United Kingdom raised taxes as high as 95% and restricted export of currency. Whilst the super rich had always looked to Switzerland , the Channel Islands provided a convenient, close, English-speaking alternat... Read more »