Island 'avoids haven blacklist'

The Isle of Man has escaped inclusion in a so-called "blacklist" of offshore financial centres, according to government ministers.

World leaders at the G20 summit issued a communique on Thursday vowing to take action against tax havens, but are yet to publicly identify them.

Fears the Isle of Man could be targeted have been allayed by officials, finance minister Allan Bell has said.

The island was named on an OECD white list of responsible jurisdictions.

But Mr Bell told reporters: "I think had we been on the blacklist it would make it very difficult for our economy to be as successful as it has been."

"It may well have seen the departure of certain businesses from the island in the wake of that."

Sanctions warning

In their communique on Thursday, world leaders said they were "ready to deploy sanctions to protect our public finances and financial systems".

"The era of banking secrecy is over," they added, before highlighting the OECD's list of countries assessed for their tax co-operation, also published on Thursday.

In the OECD list the Isle of Man was named alongside western Europe's biggest countries as jurisdictions that had "substantially implemented the internationally agreed tax standard".

Other countries in the island's bracket include the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France.

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