Re-Imagining Offshore Finance

William J. Moon, Michigan Law Review Christopher Bruner's Re-Imagining Offshore Finance: Market-Dominant Small Jurisdictions in a Globalizing Financial World is a significant contribution to the literature that should become required reading for both consumers and producers of knowledge concerning the regulation of global financial transactions.... Bruner's work provides a compelling account challenging the all-too-popular scholarly view that conceptualizes small offshore jurisdictions as parasitic entities that subsist largely at the expense of eroding the tax base of developed nations.

Erin O'Hara O'Connor, Dean and McKenzie Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law Christopher Bruner's important and timely book convincingly argues that we need to take seriously a handful of small jurisdictions that, for better and worse, have managed to compete for ever-increasing shares of the market for cross-border finance.

Adam Rosenzweig, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law Are tax havens good or bad? Professor Bruner brings a fresh new perspective to this tantalizingly simple question in [this book]. By engaging an impressively broad scope of literatures and breaking through old, unhelpful labels, Bruner is able to identify fascinating new themes in offshore tax and financial competition. In bringing to light the concept of 'market-dominant small jurisdictions,' Bruner helps move the intellectual debate forward in a truly novel and important way.

Zachary S. Freeman, NYU Journal of International Law and Politics Re-Imagining Offshore Finance is an excellent read for anyone with an interest in international finance. It provides a thorough conceptual framework for the rise of MDSJs. Bruner's clear language and thorough analyses make a complicated theoretical analysis easy to understand ....

Christopher M. Bruner is Stembler Family Distinguished Professor in Business Law at the University of Georgia School of Law. His teaching and scholarship focus on a range of corporate and transactional subjects, including Corporations, Corporate Finance, Deals and Comparative Corporate Law. He conducted comparative research as a visitor to the law faculties of the University of Cambridge, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Leeds, the University of Sydney, the University of Toronto, and the National University of Singapore. He is the author of Corporate Governance in the Common-Law World: The Political Foundations of Shareholder Power (2013), and his articles have appeared in a variety of law and policy journals. He received his A.B., M.Phil., and J.D. from the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Law School, respectively.

List of Figures Preface PART I: SMALL JURISDICTIONS IN CROSS-BORDER FINANCE Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview Chapter 2: Conceptualizing the Role of Small Jurisdictions A. Whither Globalization? B. Theorizing Small Jurisdictions i. Tax Havens ii. Offshore Financial Centers iii. Micro-States and Global Cities iv. English Legal Origins C. Capital Mobility and Regulatory Competition PART II: MARKET-DOMINANT SMALL JURISDICTIONS (MDSJs) Chapter 3: What Is an MDSJ? A. An Ideal Type B. Comparative Methods Chapter 4: Bermuda A. Bridging the Atlantic B. (Re)Insurance and "Captives" Chapter 5: Dubai A. The Cross-Roads of Europe, Africa, and Asia B. Islamic Finance Chapter 6: Singapore A. East Meets West B. Wealth Management Chapter 7: Hong Kong A. The Gateway to China B. Mainland Finance Chapter 8: Switzerland A. At the Heart of Europe B. Cross-Border Banking Chapter 9: Delaware A. Mediating Financial and Political Power B. Business Entity Registration PART III: MDSJs AND OTHER FINANCIAL CENTERS Chapter 10: Failed Small Jurisdictions and Successful Large Jurisdictions A. Revisiting the Ideal Type B. Failed Small Jurisdictions C. Successful Large Jurisdictions Chapter 11: Conclusions Index