These words alluding to the need to distinguish between fact and fiction are indeed an appropriate reflection of what is happening in the private wealth industry today. The span of the past two decades has been a time of unparallelled change for the international financial services industry. Since the mid-1990s, powerful Western governments have responded to anxieties about globalisation with a blizzard of multilateral regulatory initiatives. Now more than ever, therefore, both practitioners and consumers are in need of a synoptic view like that provided in The World's Leading Financial and Trust Centres to navigate the international financial services industry. By providing succinct and insightful summaries of 46 international financial centres, the publication of this volume marks an invaluable addition to the literature.