The death of the offshore world is much exaggerated – at least that is according to figures on registration of offshore companies in the first half of this year when compared with a year before.

The death of the offshore world is much exaggerated – at least
that is according to figures on registration of offshore companies in the first
half of this year when compared with a year before.

The number of offshore registered companies in the first six
months of 2013 stood at 38,416, according to Appleby, the
provider of offshore legal and fiduciary services.

In most offshore centers, the total number of companies
listed on the local register has increased since the end of 2012, the firm
said. The number of new incorporations across the whole offshore region has
fallen slightly compared with the previous six-month period but as the number
of firms ceasing to trade has also dropped, this has allowed most registries to
continue to grow. Many are approaching, or have even surpassed, their
pre-recession peaks, it said in a statement.

Appleby attributed the slight fall to a seasonal dip in the British Virgin Islands, which continues to dominate new
company registrations, incorporating more than six times the number of new
companies than the next closest jurisdiction in the first half of this year.

“The global economy appears to be stabilizing, and we’re
seeing the number of new company registrations rising in most offshore jurisdictions,”
said Farah Ballands, partner and global head of fiduciary and administration services
at Appleby.  “It is also encouraging to
note that the overall number of companies active on the offshore registers has
gone up by 5 per cent compared to pre-recession 2008,” Ballands said.

Mauritius

Mauritius
showed the biggest increase in new company incorporations with 9 per cent more
added than in the second half of 2012 and it was followed by Bermuda
with 8 per cent. The General Registry in the Cayman
Islands was experiencing delays at the time of going to press with
data only available to the end of March, but the Appleby report suggests that
the jurisdiction is on target for 8 per cent growth in new incorporations. In terms of the total size of the local registry, Bermuda experienced the greatest increase with 5 per cent
growth from the second half of 2012.

The report also found positive signs of recovery within the
onshore economies around the globe.

“The UK
and Hong Kong as onshore comparators continue to demonstrate signs of recovery,
with the UK
showing a particularly impressive 11 per cent more new incorporations being
registered during the first half of 2013 compared to the previous six months,” Ballands
said.

“If, as we believe, the major finance centers of the UK and Hong Kong
are indicators for the health of the offshore jurisdictions then, as we
predicted in our previous report, 2013 is turning out to be a watershed year,”
she added.