Money laundering has nothing to do with it

Much comment has been made recently about the UK Treasury's publication of the EU "White List" of countries with anti-money laundering (AML) controls supposedly equivalent to EU standards. Most EU countries, and probably others, will use the list to assess whether they can rely on, or apply simplified due diligence for, firms or financial institutions based in such jurisdictions. As such, the list can be quite influential in the placement of deals. The EU has taken over a year and a half to produce what can only be regarded as another arbitrary and prejudicial measure to undermine offshor...