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"This paper provides an update and overview of the Offshore Financial Center (OFC) program. At the time of the November 2003 review of the OFC program, Directors indicated that the Board should conduct the next review of the program in 2-3 years and be updated periodically on the progress in implementing the OFC program. Progress reports have been issued to the Board annually, the most recent in February 2006"--IMF information page summary.

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This supplement reviews the data received thus far and the progress made by participating jurisdictions in their dissemination efforts. Data for major jurisdictions that declined to participate are also provided where it is available from published sources. In addition, data on a sample of advanced economies are provided for comparative purposes. The framework identified a minimum set of variables for dissemination and recommended that jurisdictions publish data on those variables although jurisdictions could choose to publish more. Tables 2 and 5 to 13 provide the data received on those variables. The framework also identified additional variables that were to be provided to the Fund to help Fund staff monitor developments in financial centers.

In Offshore Financial Centers and Regulatory Competition, a group of leading international law and finance experts argues that offshore jurisdictions have become key players in corporate finance and captive insurance markets.

This paper updates Executive Directors on the progress since February 2005 in implementing the second phase of the offshore financial center (OFC) program as agreed in November 2003 (see PIN No. 03/138 at http://www.imf.org). At that time, Directors recognized that OFCs could pose prudential and financial integrity risks to the international financial system. In this context, Directors agreed that the monitoring of OFCs' activities and their compliance with supervisory and integrity standards should become a standard component of the financial sector work of the Fund. They also requested periodic updates on the progress with implementation of the program. Earlier updates were provided in March 2004 (Offshore Financial Centers-The Assessment Program-An Update) and February 2005 (Offshore Financial Centers-The Assessment Program-A Progress Report). With the completion of the first round of assessments, staff have begun implementing the second phase of the program.