An offshore financial centre (OFC), though not precisely defined, is usually a small, low-tax jurisdiction specializing in providing corporate and commercial services to non-resident offshore companies, and for the investment of offshore funds. The term was coined in the 1980s. Academics Rose & Spiegel, Société Générale, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) consider offshore centres to include all economies with financial sectors disproportionate to their resident population:

Academics opt for a similar definition focus on the non-resident business and cross-border elements:

Whether a financial centre is to be characterized as "offshore" is a question of degree. Indeed, the IMF Working Paper cited above notes that its definition of an offshore centre would include the United Kingdom and the United States, which are ordinarily counted as "onshore" because of their large populations and inclusion in international organisations such as the G20 and OECD.