Past IMF Staff Assessments on Offshore Financial Centers (OFCs)
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- Past IMF Staff Assessments on Offshore Financial Centers (OFCs)
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Program overview and history
- The Offshore Financial Center (OFC) assessment program was inaugurated in 2000.
- The program "helped to strengthen regulation and supervision, and to improve compliance with supervisory standards in offshore jurisdictions."
- Publication and progress reporting milestones include several program progress reports and information notes issued between 2001 and 2008.
- Last Update: October 03, 2019.
IMF Executive Board decision to integrate the OFC program with the FSAP (May 30, 2008)
- On May 30, 2008, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to integrate the OFC assessment program with the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP).
- Since 2008, the IMF has not used or maintained the list of Offshore Financial Centers.
- The integration aims explicitly to:
- (i) facilitate a more uniform and risk-based approach to financial sector surveillance and improve coordination of Fund analysis across jurisdictions;
- (ii) provide for a better allocation of Fund resources, with a specific focus on the small number of OFCs that account for the overwhelming volume of offshore activity and could be expected to pose major financial system risks; and
- (iii) eliminate the need to maintain a potentially discriminatory list of OFC jurisdictions.
Program effects and policy rationale
- The OFC assessment program contributed to strengthening regulation and supervision and improving observance of supervisory standards in offshore jurisdictions.
- The integration with the FSAP intended to:
- improve uniformity and risk orientation in surveillance;
- concentrate Fund resources on OFCs with the greatest offshore activity and potential systemic risk;
- remove the practice of maintaining a discrete OFC list to avoid potential discrimination.
Administrative and documentary notes
- The webpage lists OFC assessments conducted prior to the 2008 Board decision to integrate the OFC assessment program with the FSAP.
- For further information on the OFC assessment program and the 2008 proposal for integration with the FSAP, the IMF provides a detailed report and supplementary information.
Content in this bundle
- Offshore Financial Centers -- The Assessment Program — A Progress Report February 8, 2006
- Status of IMF Second-Phase Offshore Financial Center Assessments
- 050808a
- Offshore Financial Center Assessment (PDF)
- Cyprus -- Assessment of the Offshore Financial Sector
- 073001a
- Banking Sector Assessment, August 2001
- Assessment of the Supervision and Regulation of the Financial Sector
- Gibraltar -- Assessment of the Regulation and Supervision of Financial Services
- Cr03253
- Detailed Assessment with Compliance with the Basel Core Principles—Domestic Banks
- Offshore Financial Centers Assessment Report for the Principality of Monaco
- The detailed assessments in this volume of the Offshore Financial Center Assessment of Monaco
- Cr03289
- Detailed Assessment of Compliance of the Basel Core Principles
- IMF Module 2 assessment of the Bailiwick of Guernsey — Executive Summary
- Detailed Assessment of Compliance with International Standards
- cr03366 - Preface
- Cr03367
- IMF assessment of Jersey
- Detailed Assessment of Jersey’s Financial Supervision
- Anguilla -- Review of Financial Sector Regulation and Supervision, October 2003
- Assessment of the Supervision and Regulation of the Financial Sector
- Cr04169
- Part 1: Assessing the AML/CFT in the legal and institutional framework
- Assessment of the Supervision and Regulation of the Financial Sector
- cr04271 — IMF Module II offshore financial center assessment of the Netherlands Antilles
- Cr04272
- Cr04318
- cr04373 - Preface
- Cr04381
- Cr04391
- Offshore Financial Center Assessment Report for the Cook Islands — Preface and Key Findings
- Detailed Assessment of Compliance of the Basel Core Principles
- Cr0492
- 1. Banking System
- cr0524 - Preface
- cr0591 - Preface
- Cr0592
- Offshore Financial Centers Assessment Report for Bermuda
- Detailed Assessment of Compliance of the Basel Core Principles
- Cr06347
- Cr06376
- Executive Summary
- Detailed Assessment Report of Observance of the Basel Core Principles
- Detailed Assessment Report of Observance of the Insurance Core Principles
- Detailed Assessment Report on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism
- Cr07221
- Detailed Assessment of Compliance with the Basel Core Principles
- Cr0766
- Cr0767
- Appendix II — Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes
- Assessment of the Supervision and Regulation of the Financial Sector
References