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Jersey remains the highest rated offshore financial centre, as ranked by an international survey

The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) is published every six months and ranks countries in a number of financial categories, including private banking and wealth management. Jersey is ranked 21st overall in the world, ahead of Guernsey in 31st and the Isle of Man (Other OTC: MAGOF.PK - news) in 44th place. Jersey is the only offshore jurisdiction to feature in the top 10 rankings of industry sectors and also ranks higher than onshore competitors such as Luxembourg and Dublin.

"This is hugely encouraging and helps reinforce our standing and reputation for financial services globally," said Geoff Cook, chief executive of Jersey Finance Limited. "It is also significant that the authors of the report have concluded that the reputation of offshore centres is continuing to improve."

Jersey, Guernsey, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Mauritius have all made gains in the ratings compared to September 2011. Dublin, Milan, Madrid, Lisbon and Athens were all down in GFCI 10 and again in the latest survey.

London, New York (Frankfurt: A0DKRK - news) and Hong Kong continue to top the GFCI report by think-tank Z/Yen Group. The survey ranks 77 financial centres overall, with ratings for Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen all declining overall in the latest edition. Since its inception in 2007, more than 100,000 assessments from over 6,000 respondents have used to built the index.

Jersey is ranked at number 18 in the world for reputation, the only offshore jurisdiction in the top 20 of this sector. But the Island's best result was in wealth management and private banking, where it was ranked eighth in the world, just below Zurich and Toronto and ahead of Vancouver and Tokyo.

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Jersey tops offshore finance centre poll again

By David Voreacos - Tue Mar 27 04:00:01 GMT 2012

The transfers came amid criminal probes of at least 11 Swiss financial institutions, including Credit Suisse Group AG, with the tax division leading or assisting each prosecution.

The transfers came amid criminal probes of at least 11 Swiss financial institutions, including Credit Suisse Group AG, with the tax division leading or assisting each prosecution. Photographer: Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg

The U.S. Justice Department has lost almost 30 percent of its tax prosecutors in the past month, slowing a U.S. crackdown on offshore banks that enabled tax evasion, according to four people familiar with the matter.

Twenty-five of the 95 prosecutors in the tax division left headquarters in Washington for six-month details with U.S. attorneys around the country, and another three took permanent assignments, according to the four people, who declined to be identified because they arent authorized to speak publicly.

Many of the lawyers handled cases involving foreign banks or financial advisers suspected of helping U.S. clients cheat on taxes, the people said. The transfers came amid criminal probes of at least 11 Swiss financial institutions, including Credit Suisse (CSGN) Group AG, with the tax division leading or assisting each prosecution.

To move one-third of these people from that effort will significantly compromise such enforcement at the very time it is needed to deal with the huge amounts of offshore cases coming to the tax division, said Nathan Hochman, a former assistant attorney general who oversaw the tax division under President George W. Bush.

The prosecutors have significant experience, training and knowledge when it comes to the enforcement of tax laws pertaining to overseas accounts, said Hochman, now a partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP in Santa Monica, California.

The division also investigates identify theft, illegal tax shelters and other crimes, while approving every tax case filed by the 94 presidentially appointed U.S. attorneys serving the Justice Department around the country.

Offshore non-compliance by U.S. taxpayers remains a top priority for the Justice Departments Tax Division, said Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman. We will continue to pursue those cases vigorously.

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U.S. Tax-Evasion Probes Said to Slow as Prosecutors Transfer

Shares of Singapore's oil and gas services firm See Hup Seng Ltd rose as much as 11.4 percent after it acquired a minority stake in an offshore drilling company.

See Hup Seng's shares were 6.8 percent higher at S$0.235 with more than 13.6 million shares traded, 4.3 times the average daily volume traded over the last five sessions.

"The company's expansion into offshore and drilling has attracted investors. Oil prices have been on a strong trend up so the oil sector is still considered lucrative," said a trader.

See Hup Seng, which mainly provides corrosion prevention services to customers in the oil and gas industry, said on Friday it will spend $10 million to acquire a minority stake in Energy Drilling Pte Ltd.

Related story: http://link.reuters.com/mym37s

1012 (0212 GMT)

(Reporting by Charmian Kok in Singapore; charmian.kok@thomsonreuters.com)

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10:06 STOCKS NEWS ASEAN-Hiap Hoe jumps on takeover talk

Shares of Singapore's property firm Hiap Hoe Ltd jumped as much as 12.7 percent on strong volume on market talk the firm could be a takeover target due to its attractive valuations and potential earnings growth, traders said.

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STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-See Hup Seng up on offshore drilling acquisition

JAZIAL CROSSLEY

New Zealand stocks were down today, taking a lead from weak markets offshore.

Asian sharemarkets suffered after news that manufacturing in China had pulled back and comments from a high profile economist that the Chinese economy was struggling more than expected.

The NZX50 index was down 0.7 per cent or 25.34 points to 3449.30.

Craigs Investment Partners investment advisor Chris Timms said while there were pockets of strength on the bourse, most of the major trading companies were down.

"There have been a couple of indications the Chinese economy has slowed down - the last couple of days the data out of China hasn't been quite as good. That has taken a bit of a gloss off, but it has still been a pretty strong week in terms of the sharemarkets. People are having a breather - we've had such a good run on the markets [with the NZX at nine month highs] so there is just some profit taking on some stocks," Timms said.

"Fletcher Building is down 2.2 per cent to $6.80, that's major drag on our market. Fletcher Building is the most liquid stock in our market so if we get a bit of a sell-off overseas it seems to get sold off, and it's been quite sold off quite heavily today."

Finzsoft shares rose 2c or 5.3 per cent to 40c after restructuring its leadership team with the departure of chief executive Mark Sewell.

Under the move Andrew Holliday and Ian Wills will join the executive team as joint managing directors with immediate effect, and the CEO role will fall away. Holliday and Wills have been majority shareholders and directors of Finzsoft since they acquired 64% of the company in June 2007.

The leading decliner was investment holding company Guinness Peat Group, down 2.9 per cent to 50c. Jewellery retailer Michael Hill International fell 2.9 per cent to $1.02.

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NZ stocks down on offshore weakness

Lawmakers call for regulation of 'Wild West' loan industry Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News March 20, 2012 She was desperate to pay a handful of crucial bills, so she went online and researched digital loans.

She read about Internet payday loan companies and how they work but she found one that seemed better than the others.

In order to find out if I qualified I had to give them my bank account and social security number like you would for any loan, she told The Skanner News. There was my first stupid thing.

This Oregon resident -- who has requested anonymity because she hasnt yet told her family that a $400 loan turned into a $1,000 nightmare -- has helped touch off a national effort by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) to regulate the billion-dollar offshore payday lending industry.

Merkley and Akaka this month officially requested that Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray take action against such payday lenders, who appear to be reaching right into unwary consumers bank accounts and siphoning out everything they can get.

Merkley brought the issue to the National Newspaper Publishers Association last week in Washington D.C., during Black Press Week.

Millions of Americans are affected by the abusive and deceptive payday lending practices across our country and over the Internet, Merkley says. While Oregon is lucky to have state legislation in place to stop the worse practices, there are still loopholes and offshore websites that are dragging Oregon families into black holes of debt.

We have to bring order to the Wild West of the lending market.

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Online Payday Lenders: Consumer Ripoffs by Offshore Corporations