Offshore Investing is Green

[Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>]

>From a World Bank outline on setting up "Conservation Trust Funds" to fund
conservation projects.

http://www-esd.worldbank.org/html/esd/env/publicat/edp/edp1107.htm


"Offshore Asset Management

The advantages of offshore professional asset management are many; namely,
the assets can be invested in a hard currency, in a secure market, in a
secure location, and in an account which is tailored to the objectives of
the trust fund. Chapter 7 discusses issues of asset management. 

There are two mechanisms for offshore asset management. The simplest is a
straightforward asset management account, opened in an OECD country or a
tax haven. Most simple asset management accounts in OECD countries will be
liable to pay some tax on income earned; accounts in tax havens such as the
Channel Islands may therefore be more attractive. For example, an asset
management
agreement can be settled with an international bank in London for an
account held in the bank's Channel Island subsidiary. If this method is
unsuitable due to concerns of attachment, tax implications for the domestic
trust, or concerns of irrevocability of the assets, a two tier system might
be more appropriate. In a two-tier system, the domestic trust is a
tax-exempt entity and is the sole beneficiary of the offshore trust. The
offshore trust acts as the investment account and should also be tax exempt."