A Semi-Periphery to Global Capital: Global Governance and Lines of Flight for Caribbean Offshore Financial Centres

Abstract

A frequent and readily accessible indicator for globalisation are figures demonstrating the increase in cross-border capital flows, whether foreign exchange, portfolio investment or direct investment. The re-configuration of core-periphery relations brought about by globalisation is seen in the relocation of production facilities leading to the creation of global production chains. A parallel re-configuration has occurred in global finance with the end of the Bretton Woods system and a decline in the use of capital controls. These events served to release capital to find new and innovative investment vehicles that in turn opened avenues for increased global financialisation. Offshore financial centres (OFCs) evolved with this reconfiguration from simple tax havens for wealthy individuals to become pivotal nodal points in the expansion of global circuits of capital. They have emerged as a semi-periphery for global finance, operating between the leading financial centres in London and New York and the myriad of production sites throughout the periphery. One example for this situation is the fact that the British Virgin Islands is the second major source of foreign direct investment (FDI) capital to China, after Hong Kong. Advancing from the brute geography of physical location and size, these small islands have developed into virtual powerhouses in the vast electronic financial markets operating 24/7 from Tokyo to London to New York.