The users of offshore facilities fall primarily into the two categories of individual and corporate users.

Individual users include high net worth individuals, expatriates and emigrants and owners of businesses, individuals enjoying inherited wealth, entrepreneurs and industrialists, businessmen and senior executives, entertainers and authors, sportsmen, inventors, engineers and designers, owners of intellectual property rights, medical practitioners and other professionals.

High net worth individuals are generally those clients with disposable assets in excess of two million dollars. Expatriates are, in the main, individuals who are living away from their home countries, either on overseas contracts of employment or as retirees, whereas emigrants are individuals who have permanently moved from one country to another in pursuit of a better quality of life and/or business interests. The category of 'owners of businesses' relates predominantly to proprietary businesses where the shares are held by family members.

Traditionally, such users originated from Europe, North and South America and certain African and Australasian countries. Over the last decade, however, clients falling into this category have increasingly come from the Eastern European countries, the CIS, the Indian sub-continent and the booming economies which make up South East Asia and the Pacific Rim.
Individual users utilize offshore facilities for the reasons such as tax planning, estate and investment planning, pre-immigration planning, confidentiality and privacy, security.

Corporate users include multinational companies, conglomerates, shipping companies, financial institutions. Most modern corporations, be they medium sized companies pursuing international expansion, multinational companies, conglomerates, shipping companies or financial institutions, are market driven and many have been able to establish and maintain their competitive edge by efficiently structuring aspects of their operations through offshore centers.

Holding companies, foreign direct investment companies, mixing vehicles, royalty companies and treasury management companies are but a few examples of the types of companies that have been established by corporate users in offshore centers.

Treasury management operations would typically include cash management, capital raising exercises, the provision of finance to subsidiaries and risk management. Corporate treasurers often apportion their cash resources between their subsidiaries. This process, known as 'netting', is regularly undertaken from an offshore center.

Many corporate users have favored establishing a physical presence in offshore centers, which, in addition to treasury management, are utilized for regional headquarters, marketing, trading and administration centers, re-export, trans-shipment and pre-positioning, manufacturing and assembly plants, transportation and distribution.

Free ports, export processing and special economic zones have continued to attract corporate users. Mauritius, which has in excess of 700 companies operating in its Export Processing Zone, the Isle of Man and Madeira have all been successful in attracting multinational and large companies to establish physical presences.

The individual and corporate users of offshore services are, diverse, matched only by the wide range of benefits that offshore centers offer.