The term "offshore company" or "offshore corporation" is used in at least two distinct and different ways. An offshore company may be a reference to:
An offshore fund is generally a collective investment scheme domiciled in an offshore jurisdiction. Like the term "offshore company", the term is more descriptive than definitive, and both the words 'offshore' and 'fund' may be construed differently.
Offshore investment is the keeping of money in a jurisdiction other than one's country of residence. Offshore jurisdictions are used to pay less tax in many countries by large and small-scale investors. Poorly regulated offshore domiciles have served historically as havens for tax evasion, money laundering, or to conceal or protect illegally acquired money from law enforcement in the investor's country. However, the modern, well-regulated offshore centres allow legitimate investors to take advantage of higher rates of return or lower rates of tax on that return offered by operating via such domiciles. The advantage to offshore investment is that such operations are both legal and less costly than those offered in the investor's country—or "onshore".
HSBC Bank Bermuda Limited, previously the Bank of Bermuda Limited, is a financial services company in Bermuda providing retail and corporate banking, investment, custody and fund administration services to international and local clients. In 2004 the HSBC Group acquired the Bank of Bermuda, which has since become a focus for certain fund management and private banking activities. The bank sold much of its Cayman operations in 2014, and disposed its private banking operations at the end of April 2016. The three remaining divisions are retail banking wealth management, commercial banking and global banking and markets. These three businesses represent over 90% of total revenues.
Harney Westwood & Riegels is a global offshore law firm that provides advice on British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Bermuda and Anguilla law to an international client base that includes law firms, financial institutions, investment funds, and private individuals. They have locations in major financial centers across Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Caribbean.
Maples Group is a multi-jurisdictional firm providing legal and financial services, headquartered in the Cayman Islands. It has offices in many financial centres around the world, including several tax neutral jurisdictions. Its law firm is a member of the offshore magic circle, and specialises in advising on the laws of the Cayman Islands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, across a range of legal services including commercial litigation, intellectual property, sport, and finance, in which the firm has a focus on the structuring of tax efficient legal structures.
The offshore magic circle is the set of the largest multi-jurisdictional law firms who specialise in offshore financial centres, especially the laws of the British Overseas Territories of Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and British Virgin Islands, and the Crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey.
Appleby is a leading offshore legal services provider.
Conyers is an international law firm. Their client base includes FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies, international finance houses and asset managers. The firm advises on law practiced in Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands. Conyers Headquarters is situated in Hamilton, Bermuda and has international offices in Hong Kong, London and Singapore. Conyers also provides several corporate, trust, compliance, governance and accounting and management services.
Butterfield, officially The Bank of N. T. Butterfield & Son Limited, is a bank founded and based in Bermuda. It provides services to clients from Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey, where its principal banking operations are located, and The Bahamas, Switzerland, Singapore and the United Kingdom, where it offers specialized financial services. Banking services comprise deposit, cash management and lending for individual, business and institutional clients. Wealth management services are composed of trust, private banking, asset management and custody. In Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Guernsey, Butterfield offers both banking and wealth management. In The Bahamas, Singapore and Switzerland, Butterfield offers select wealth management services. In the UK, Butterfield offers residential property lending. In Jersey, it offers banking and wealth management services. Butterfield is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Bermuda Stock Exchange.
Ogier is a law firm with offices in the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey and Luxembourg. It is a member of the offshore magic circle.
Walkers is a Cayman Islands headquartered offshore law firm. Walkers provides legal, corporate, compliance and fiduciary services to global corporations, financial institutions, capital markets participants and investment fund managers. Walkers practices the laws of six jurisdictions from ten offices globally. It is a member of the offshore magic circle.
Anthony Travers, OBE was the chairman of the Board of Cayman Finance from 2009 to 2011. Travers is also the Chairman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange and former Senior Partner and Managing Partner of international law firm Maples and Calder. He has over thirty years experience in all aspects of Cayman Islands law, particularly mutual funds, structured finance, insurance and private client, and has throughout advised Government on the development of Cayman Islands legislation.
An offshore financial centre (OFC) is defined as a "country or jurisdiction that provides financial services to nonresidents on a scale that is incommensurate with the size and the financing of its domestic economy."
Mourant is an offshore law firm headquartered in Saint-Helier, Jersey. Mourant is one of the largest offshore law firms, with just over 70 partners and 700+ staff. It is a member of the offshore magic circle.
Bedell Cristin is an offshore law firm that provides legal services in financial jurisdictions for corporate clients, financial institutions, and private clients. It has offices in the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, London, and Singapore.
Maitland(a part of Apex Group) is a privately-owned investment holding company. In 2021, its Private and Corporate Client Services business was acquired by Stonehage Fleming and in 2022 its Fund and ManCo business was acquired by Apex Group.
Ocorian is a provider of trust, administration and fiduciary services for companies, institutions, individuals and funds. The company has connections to the offshore magic circle. It was founded in Jersey as law firm Bedell Cristin, with Bedell Trust providing financial services.
Estera was a global provider of corporate, trust, fund and accounting services. The company was created following a management buyout of the fiduciary group of Appleby. It rebranded as Estera in April 2016. In February 2020 Estera merged with Ocorian.
Conduit OFC and sink OFC is an empirical quantitative method of classifying corporate tax havens, offshore financial centres (OFCs) and tax havens.
