By Bill Davis
\nAsset Management, Inc.<\/p>\n
\nThe development of offshore financial services as we know them today dates back to the formation of the first offshore trust company known as The Bahamas General Trust Company in 1936. This Company was established to provide investment management services to high net worth individuals. Through the years these services have become what we now know as Private Banking. As high taxes, liability litigation and even political unrest became the norm in European and North American countries; offshore private banking became more and more directed toward providing a safe haven for capital and assets of high net worth individuals. Private Banking has evolved to include but is not limited to the following three main segments.
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\nIn 1961, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development was formed to help build strong economies in its member countries by expanding free trade. The OECD has at lease thirty member group countries and an active relationship with some seventy or more other countries. They produce international guidelines to promote and provide rules where multilateral agreements are necessary for individual countries to progress in a globalized economy. The OECD Council is made up of representatives of member countries. Peer and political pressure is a day-to-day problem at the very heart of the OECD. Only time will tell if the OCED will help with the guidance for economic globalization or externalize each country\uff92s own protective instinct.<\/p>\n
\nMuch of this information was made available by J. Kevin Higgins in his book, \uff93Offshore Financial Services\uff94.<\/p>\n