Driven by a massive
repatriation of offshore assets by wealthy individuals, change is
sweeping wealth management markets, reveals a study by Arjuna
Sittampalam, a research associate at French business school EDEC’s
Risk Institute.
Leading offshore centres such
as Switzerland, the Channel Islands, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and
San Marino are all “hemorrhaging funds”, noted
Sittampalam.
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Indicative of the scale, he
said the flow back from offshore European centres since the
beginning of 2008 is estimated to be as much as $520bn, 25% of the
total before the outflow commenced.
Sittampalam said
jurisdictions such as Liechtenstein and San Marino have both lost
about a third of their offshore business while Switzerland has lost
about 20%.
He explained that most of the
outflow has resulted from stringent government measures aimed at
countering tax evasion by Americans and Europeans, but that even
“legitimate money” is moving back as business owners need cash for
their businesses.
