The leak of millions of records purporting to show widespread exploitation of offshore financial centers by global leaders, lenders and criminals is expected to draw governmental scrutiny of illicit finance, however unevenly.
FATF's latest round of mutual evaluations is proving "much more intense" resource-wise than past examination cycles, according to Calvin Wilson, the executive director of the intergovernmental group's affiliate organization in the Caribbean.
A "quantum leap" in efforts to improve global financial transparency, including the passage of a U.S. anti-tax evasion law, has mitigated the compliance risks of offshore banking centers in recent years, says Martin Livingston, a partner at the Cayman Islands branch of law firm Maples and Calder.
U.S. tax authorities and a Senate investigatory team are looking into reports that the Cayman Islands branch of Bank Julius Baer helped American accountholders hide taxable revenue, according to the former chief of the bank's Caribbean operations.
Swiss bank UBS AG will end its offshore banking services to residents of the United States, a company official told Capitol Hill on Thursday.