Offshore Center - Offshore Center

Japanese: オフショア・センター - おふしょあせんたー（英語表記）offshore center

A market that allows freer and more active fund raising from non-residents and fund management for non-residents, i.e., overseas transactions, by giving preferential treatment in terms of financial regulations and tax systems. In the 1960s, the introduction of the interest equalization tax in the United States expanded the euro market, intensifying competition among financial institutions. There was a succession of moves to set up subsidiaries and branches in areas with more freedom and lower costs, and the authorities of each country also actively responded to improve the status of their own markets in international financial transactions, leading to the appearance of offshore centers in various regions. There are three types of offshore centers: those that emerged naturally because of loose regulations on domestic transactions, such as London and Hong Kong (called the domestic/overseas integrated type because there is no distinction between overseas/overseas transactions and domestic transactions); those that are free in principle for overseas/overseas transactions, but have measures to isolate them from domestic transactions (setting up special accounts separate from domestic transactions), such as the New York IBF and the Tokyo offshore market (JOM: Japan Offshore Market); and those that are tax haven types, where only international financial transactions are recorded due to preferential tax treatment. The Financial Stability Forum has cited offshore centers as a source of turmoil in international finance and stressed the need for proper assessment of their compliance with international standards.

(Naoyoshi Kinukawa, Director of Economic Research, Institute for International Monetary Affairs / 2007)

Source : "Chiezo" published by Asahi Shimbun Publications Co., Ltd. About Chiezo

Japanese:

非居住者からの資金調達及び非居住者に対する資金運用、いわゆる外‐外取引を金融規制、税制などの面で優遇することによって、より自由かつ活発に行わせる市場。1960年代に米国の利子平衡税の導入などでユーロ市場が拡大し、金融機関の間の競争が激化、より自由で低コストの地域を求めて子会社・支店を設置する動きが相次いだこと、及び各国当局側においても国際金融取引における各国市場の地位向上を目指して積極的に対応したことなどから、各地にオフショア・センターが出現した。ロンドンや香港のように、国内取引に対する規制が緩やかであったことから自然発生的に成立したもの(外‐外取引と国内取引との差別がないため、内外一体型といわれる)、ニューヨークIBFや東京オフショア市場(JOM:Japan Offshore Market)のように、外‐外取引は原則自由だが国内取引との間に遮断措置(国内取引と分離した特別な勘定を設ける)を講じたもの(内外分離型)、税制上の優遇措置により、国際金融取引の記帳のみが行われるタックスヘイブン型、の3つがある。金融安定化フォーラムはオフショア・センターを国際金融の波乱要因として、国際基準遵守状況の適切な評価などの必要性を説いている。

(絹川直良国際通貨研究所経済調査部長／ 2007年)

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