Jersey has agreed to overhaul its corporate tax regime, in a sign of a broader shake-out under way in the world of offshore finance. Changes recently agreed by the island's parliament will reduce the burden on companies but at the expense of consumers, prompting a backlash in some quarters on behalf of the island's poorer residents.

As Jersey grapples to satisfy the demands of the international community without leaving a huge hole in its public finances, it is acting as an unwitting but revealing exemplar of the social fall-out from reforms taking place across the world's tax havens.