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The seaside promenade in Douglas, on the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown dependency, boasts grand Victorian buildings and a horse-drawn tram.
曼島是一個英國王權的自治屬地，其首府道格拉斯的海濱大道上坐落著宏偉的維多利亞時期建筑以及一輛馬拉電軌車。
Once they helped it to compete with the likes of Llandudno and Blackpool for the tourist masses of England's north-west.
它們曾幫助該地與蘭迪德諾以及黑潭爭奪來自英國西北部的游客群。
When cheap air travel meant these holiday towns were abandoned, most fell into disrepair. But Douglas reinvented itself as an off-shore financial centre.
當廉價的航空旅行使這些假日城市被遺棄時，大部分城市都陷入絕望。但是道格拉斯將自己重新打造成了一座離岸金融中心。
Today finance provides over a third of the island's GDP, of which around half is from insurance. Now new transparency rules put that at risk.
如今金融業為這座小島貢獻了超過三分之一的GDP，其中約有一半來自保險業?，F在新的透明政策該行業其岌岌可危。
From January 1st the island's insurers will have to be more open with clients, in particular on the subject of brokers' commissions.
自1月1日期，島上的保險公司將要對客戶更加開放，尤其是在經紀人傭金方面。
Britain has had similar rules since 2013. International organisations such as the OECD, a club of rich countries,
英國自2013年起實施了類似的政策。國際組織，比如富國俱樂部—經濟合作與發展組織（OECD）
and the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental anti-money-laundering organisation, increasingly require such standards for their seal of approval.
以及非政府反洗錢組織—金融行動專責委員會，愈發要求在他們按下批準印章時實施此標準。
The island's main insurance business is not at risk. The "offshore bonds" it started offering in the 1970s allow British residents to pay a lump sum,
該島的主要保險業務并未面臨風險。它自20世紀70年代開始出售的“離岸債券”讓英國居民一次性支付一筆金額，
usually at least 50,000 pounds ($63,000), to be returned on an agreed date.
通常至少為五萬英鎊（6.3萬美元），然后在雙方約定之日返還。
These count as life insurance, though the insurance payout is typically just 1-5% of the lump sum, and can be as little as 1 pound.
這些算是一種人壽保險，雖然保險理賠金額通常只有投?？傤~的1-5%，可能只有1英鎊。
The appeal is tax-efficiency: deferring incometax liabilities or avoiding inheritance tax.
該保險吸引人的地方在于其稅收效益：遞延所得稅負債或是避開遺產稅。
Britain's tax authority could kill these off, but it has tolerated them for decades and shows no sign of a change of heart.
英國稅務機關能夠將這些扼殺掉，但它已經忍了幾十年并且毫無變心的跡象。
Rather, it is the island's growing business of life insurance for expatriates and the global rich that is under threat.
當然，正是該島海外移民和全球富豪人壽保險的增長業務受到了威脅。
The other big offshore insurance centre, Bermuda, specialises in property-and-casualty insurance and reinsurance, mainly for hurricane risk in America.
另一個大型的離岸保險中心百慕大群島專門從事財產保險以及再保險業務，主要是為美洲的颶風風險提供再保險。
For the Isle of Man, by contrast, life insurance accounts for over 90% of its insurers' assets under management: 69bn pounds out of 75bn pounds.
相比之下，對曼島而言，人壽保險占其保險公司管理資產額的90%多，即690億英鎊：750億英鎊。
And within life insurance, it specialises in asset protection and asset management rather than death benefits or annuities.
在人壽保險業務中，它專注于資產保護以及資產管理，而非死亡撫恤金或養老金。
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