Offshore Annihilation?

Admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Let’s face it, anyone who works in the offshore environment has a high content of capitalist blood cells running through their veins, it’s one of the main reasons we decided to swap our lives in our dreary home countries and move to paradise to earn tax free salaries. Or, if you are lucky enough, you get to be native to this incredible lifestyle!

Being the leader of the country that bills itself as the capitalist centre of the universe, you would expect President Obama to welcome the advantages that these offshore centers can give to aid in the global economic recovery, yet for some reason he would like to eradicate them all. On certain levels you can absolutely understand his point of view and some of the actions that have resulted from it. Alan Stanford and his crazy antics, from his bank in (the less well regulated environment of!) Antigua, propagates Obama’s belief further with the general view that the uber-wealthy, whether acquired legally or not, all come to offshore centers to visit their money and sit round smoking cigars and quaffing champagne on their super yachts.

I haven’t lived here long but I have lived here long enough to know that this certainly doesn’t seem to be the case. In the case of Cayman, we have jumped through hoops just to keep in line with the constantly changing demands of the G20 Group of Countries. We have some of the most stringent anti-money laundering processes in place and the micro economy has suffered terribly yet Obama would still like to see the island suffer further. Bermuda, the risk capital of the world, has paid out somewhere in the region of $30bn in claims to help with catastrophic events such as Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 terrorist atrocities, yet Obama would like to see all of the insurance firms on-shored. If they did not have the advantages in tax that Bermuda offers then they would not be able to compete in premiums and the market would fall over.

It begs an interesting question then. With the advantages that the offshore environment can bring to the recovery of the global economy and the benefits that they offer to global business, why then is Obama looking to eradicate them? Maybe it is a grab for short term revenues through tax? Or maybe it is a slightly less capitalist pledge to share the wealth with the people? Don’t get me wrong, Obama has a lot to offer as a President and has made remarkable inroads in many areas but are his views of the offshore community a little shortsighted?

Even the historically somewhat hostile Economist magazine (in a February 2007 special report) acknowledges that offshore centers help grease the wheels of the global economy, freeing up international trade and allowing companies to work more effectively across multiple jurisdictions. The knock on benefit is that it allows a second income stream to often quite isolated islands that might not necessarily be able to support their population through traditional means, bringing a much higher standard of living and personal wealth to these paradise islands (the CIA World Factbook ranking Bermuda and the Cayman Islands 4th and 13 respectively for GDP per capita).

Paul Accepts Job And New Cayman Challenge

Admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:13:00 GMT

This is the blog of my move from Whangarei in New Zealand to a new job as an accountant in The Cayman Islands.

This is my first post and my blog will follow my progress through to the early days of my new life in the Caribbean.

As for my background, for the last three years I have been in Public Practice accountancy in New Zealand and I recently completed my CA qualification. Prior to becoming an accountant, I spent several years at Vodafone NZ as an analyst in their customer operations department.

I decided to make my move offshore as, like many Kiwis (New Zealanders), I got bitten by the travel bug years ago. Cayman represented a great opportunity to work in my chosen profession in a part of the world I've always been interested in, but not yet visited.

I am hoping to expand on my experience to date, and challenge myself by learning new skills such as IFRS's, US GAAP and Captive Insurance.

The lifestyle aspects of working in the Caribbean also appeal, particularly water sports such as scuba diving, sailing etc.

I'm currently three days and eight hours away from getting on the plane. The last 5-6 weeks (since my job offer) have been incredibly hectic! There really is a lot of work involved in relocating overseas. Work permit paperwork can be time consuming - best to get started on some aspects of this immediately, particularly obtaining police records and medicals.

CML Offshore Recruitment

Offshore Annihilation?

Paul Accepts Job And New Cayman Challenge