The Impact of Offshore Financial Centers on International Financial Markets

Offshore centers have come to play an important role in the institutional structure of international financial markets. The article identifies two dimensions of dynamic competition that are relevant for an analysis of the offshore center phenomenon. First, there is competition between the offshore centers and one or more domestic financial markets. Second, there is dynamic competition among the offshore centers. The system of offshore centers generates a three-tier structure of international financial markets: domestic, foreign traditional, and offshore markets, both with respect to financial intermediaries as well as securities markets. This structure constitutes the institutional base for trends in the international financial markets which result in a process of increasing globalization