Bob Richards, the Minister of Finance, yesterday blasted Britain over its hypocrisy on tax.

Mr Richards said the UK’s bid to get Overseas Territories to establish public registers of ownership in offshore companies would damage the island. And he added that Britain itself is a tax haven, with its non-domicile tax breaks meaning “more billionaires resident in London than any place on earth”.

He added that the island had for decades maintained a central register of ownership, available to the authorities in other countries on request, although not to the public.

Mr Richards, in an interview in The Guardian newspaper, pointed out that several states in the US, Bermuda’s main trading partner, did not have public registers.

And he said that any change in Bermuda’s rules could leave it at a competitive disadvantage.

Full story in business