Despite all the doom and gloom in the press recently regarding tax havens, according to a report released by offshore law specialists Appleby the number of new offshore companies being registered globally in the first six months of 2012 was up 9% from the previous six months, to 41,556, indicating that the offshore markets are recovering from the financial crisis.
The British Virgin Islands, which have always been very popular with clients from Asia in particular, dominate offshore new company registration activity by volume, enjoying a huge six-fold lead over its nearest rival, the Cayman Islands. However, Cayman was the fastest growth jurisdiction for new registrations, with a 13% increase in the first half of 2012 over the previous six months.
Despite the global growth, overall company registrations in the offshore sector have still not yet returned to their pre-crisis growth - hardly a surprise given the very slow haul out of recession being experienced by many of the major economies which provide them with their work. Furthermore, the total number of active offshore companies has actually decreased 4% to 801,168, implying that significant numbers of companies are being wound up. Nevertheless, the level of activity in new incorporations will be reassuring to those working in the sector.
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