Organised crime - offshore and international aspects

Within the broader subject of organised and economic crime, this chapter focuses on offshore financial centres. “Offshore” or “international” financial centre jurisdictions remain relatively under-researched. The concept of “offshore” is something to which there continues to be astonishingly little by way of meaningful scholarship and understanding - despite increased popular dissentiment towards so-called tax havens. This chapter introduces the reader to this important category of jurisdiction and considers aspects of their development and role within the international financial architecture. It considers some of the long-held criticisms and international concerns about offshore jurisdictions in terms of interdicting, or indeed facilitating, organised and economic crime. It points the reader to some ongoing developments on areas relating to compliance with international standards in the offshore context, while at the same time querying whether - as a means of disrupting malign activity - they are appropriate in their “one size fits all” framing. By reference to ongoing issues such as beneficial ownership registers - this chapter suggests that research in this area needs to better address some of the assumptions that often cause confusion rather than clarity in this area; as well as some of the fundamentals about “offshore”.