Economically however, financial services associated with the territory's status as an offshore financial centre are by far the more important.

Financial services constitute the second-most important sector of the Bahamian economy, accounting for up to 17 % of GDP, due to the country's status as an offshore financial center.

Many hedge funds are established in offshore financial centres so that no tax is charged at the fund level ( although the investors will still be subject to tax in their own jurisdictions on any increase in the value of their investments ).

The economy is increasingly diversified, with significant private-sector activity in sugar, tourism, economic processing zones, and financial services, particularly in offshore enterprises.

Montserrat ’ s domestic financial sector is very small and has seen a reduction in offshore finance in recent years with only 11 offshore banks remaining.

* Bulk cash smuggling: Physically smuggling cash to another jurisdiction, where it will be deposited in a financial institution, such as an offshore bank, with greater bank secrecy or less rigorous money laundering enforcement.

In this regard, the government has tried to develop the island into an offshore financial center, imitating the success of the Bahamas and other island nations around the world that have emerged as major offshore banking centers.

All three representatives from Nevis, including the leader of the opposition in the Nevis Island Assembly, objected to the introduction of these bills into the National Assembly in Saint Kitts, arguing that the bills would affect the ability of Nevis to develop its offshore financial services sector and that the bills would be detrimental to the Nevis economy.

Legislation making Palau an " offshore " financial center was passed by the Senate in 1998.

The Senate passed legislation making Palau an " offshore " financial center in 1998.

The Turks and Caicos Islands ( and or ; abbreviated TCI ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the West Indies, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.

However, the term is more commonly used to describe a trust in one of the jurisdictions known as offshore financial centers or, colloquially, as tax havens.

In 1992, the government designated two export-producing zones and encouraged the development of offshore financial services.

Bank secrecy combined with the lack of corporate and income taxes led to a rapid growth in the offshore financial sector during the postwar years.

Bermuda has prospered economically since World War II, developing into a highly successful offshore financial centre.

The fortunes of the Territory dramatically improved in the late twentieth century with the advent of the offshore financial services industry.

At the time Panama was one of the largest providers of offshore financial services in the world, but the business fled subsequent the invasion, and the British Virgin Islands was one of the main beneficiaries.

In 2000, KPMG were commissioned by the British Government to produce a report on the offshore financial industry generally, and the report indicated that nearly 41 % of the offshore companies in the world were formed in the British Virgin Islands.

The British Virgin Islands is now one of the world's leading offshore financial centres, and boasts one of the highest incomes per capita in the Caribbean.

Dominica also recently entered the offshore financial services market.

Bucharest is also Romania's largest centre for information technology and communications and is home to several software companies operating offshore delivery centres.

It was used to establish a centre for offshore finance in 1990.

In October 2007, Fujitsu announced that it would be establishing an offshore development centre in Noida, India with a capacity to house 1, 200 employees, in an investment of US $ 10 million.

In Malaysia, the term Federal Territory ( Malay: Wilayah Persekutuan ) is used for the three territories governed directly by the federal government, namely Kuala Lumpur ( national capital ), Putrajaya ( federal government administrative centre ) and Labuan Island ( international offshore financial centre ).

As of 2011, the expanding offshore wind power industry has taken centre stage and 75 % of the company's work is based on offshore renewable energy.

Since 2005, Optus has outsourced some customer service functions to Convergys, with the outsourcer providing 800 staff operating offshore in India, supplementing Optus ' 3, 000-plus onshore call centre staff.

Labuan's capital is Victoria and is best known as an offshore financial centre offering international financial and business services via Labuan IBFC since 1990 as well as being an offshore support hub for deepwater oil and gas activities in the region.

In 1990, it was declared an international offshore financial centre and free trade zone.

The vigilance of the local Coast Guard and Customs and Excise contribute to the maintenance of Labuan's reputation and status as an international offshore financial centre and free trade zone.

Among offshore banks, Swiss banks hold an estimated 35 % of the world's private and institutional funds ( or 3 trillion Swiss francs ), and the Cayman Islands ( 1. 9 trillion US dollars in deposits ) are the fifth largest banking centre globally in terms of deposits.

* Gibraltar is no longer an offshore centre since 30 June 2006.

An artificial channel was constructed in 1872 to modify the harbour, which is the largest marine centre in Europe servicing the offshore oil and gas industry.

Kuala Lumpur is the national capital of Malaysia, Putrajaya is the administrative capital, and Labuan is an offshore international financial centre.

Labuan, an island off coast of mainland Sabah, was chosen by the federal government for development into an offshore financial centre.

Fidelity Investments Ireland was established in 1996 as the European offshore development centre for Fidelity Investments and now employs over 300 people with offices in Dublin and Galway.

From 1855, the Shoebury Sands, which are a continuation of the Maplin Sands to the south of the island, had been used as an artillery testing site, and the War Office sought to extend this at the end of the 19th century, by buying the island and its offshore sands, to act as a research and development centre for new weapons.

Macaé is generally considered to be the centre of the Brazilian offshore petroleum industry.

There has long been debate over the exact location of the geographical centre of the United Kingdom, and its constituent countries, due to the complexity and method of the calculation, such as whether to include offshore islands, and the fact that erosion will cause the position to change over time.

* 1989 – Raid on offshore pirate station, Radio Caroline in the North Sea by British and Dutch governments.

In 2000 KPMG reported in its survey of offshore jurisdictions for the United Kingdom government that over 41 % of the world's offshore companies were formed in the British Virgin Islands.

In 1799, British ships harassed Bonaparte's army as it marched east and north through Palestine, and played a crucial part in Bonaparte's defeat at the Siege of Acre, when the barges carrying the siege train were captured and the French storming parties were bombarded by British ships anchored offshore.

For a brief period in the 1790s the British attempted to establish a rival foothold on an offshore island, at Bolama, but by the 19th century the Portuguese were sufficiently secure in Bissau to regard the neighbouring coastline as their own special territory.

In 1984 the British Virgin Islands, trying to recapture some of the lost offshore business, enacted a new form of companies legislation, the International Business Companies Act, under which an offshore company which was exempt from local taxes could be formed.

This mahogany was known as ' Rattan mahogany ', after the island of Ruatan which was the main offshore entrepot for the British settlers in the area.

* Queen Charlotte Basin, the continental shelf offshore of the British Columbia mainland

For a brief period in the 1790s the British attempted to establish a rival foothold on the offshore island of Bolama.

Another group that was also based in North Texas who were aware of the Bill Mack venture on XERF and the replacement of his time slot by the Texas Night Train were the owners of a company attempting to revive the British offshore station Wonderful Radio London.

Into the 1970s Blaine was home to hundreds of commercial purse seiners and gillnetters plying the waters offshore of British Columbia, between Washington State and southeast Alaska.

Rum-running and border jumping thrived along Blaine's shared coastline with British Columbia, due in part to the area's largest whiskey still being located on Texada Island, which is located in the northern Strait of Georgia offshore from the city of Powell River, British Columbia.

At least one company experienced in the registration of entities in traditional offshore jurisdictions ( British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands etc.

Beginning in 1964 the first in what became a fleet of 10 offshore pirate radio stations began to ring the British coastline.