Taiwan, also stepping up its offshore investments, came in second, though far behind Japan.

Reasons which have been advanced against offshore investment include:

He also said Rockefeller would be unlikely to end all its offshore investments if the law changed.

Congress gives companies a dollar-for-dollar credit on taxes paid in foreign countries, which in practice is a subsidy for offshore investment.

By the end of 1997, this report said, Britain's private investors controlled assets - including offshore investments - of more than $1 trillion.

And the company has further unnerved investors by disclosures that it had invested 500 million euros in an offshore investment.

Previous campaigns have targeted offshore investments, medical professionals and people working in the plumbing industry.

Well there was only one set of books to track the offshore investments.

All investors must look carefully at the safety of any offshore investment as protection arrangements may be less rigorous than in the UK.