ABSTRACT
Since 1945, international trade and finance have become increasingly globalized, with the emergence of a truly international financial system. From the 1960s on, the financial system expanded massively, with the growth of an international network of electronically connected financial centres and the creation of entirely new financial instruments and markets such as the offshore Eurocurrency markets. These were initially based in London and saw phenomenal growth from around $500 million in 1959 to over $63.4 billion by 1969 (Owens, 1974; Mendelsohn, 1980). Associated with this new type of finance was the transformation of certain tax havens (often islands) into offshore finance centres (OFCs).
