This has not been a great year for advisers who look after wealthy clients in offshore locations and last week the situation became considerably worse. In his Budget, Chancellor George Osborne confirmed Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man had agreed to tell their banks to supply data on UK citizens holding local deposits to the UK tax authorities, as part of a widening of the hunt for unpaid taxes.

Osborne is negotiating a similar deal with other tax havens such as Bermuda and the Virgin Islands, which are under the jurisdiction of the UK.