CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY

By Baron Laudermilk. Seychelles' Long Road to Becoming Africa's Offshore Financial Hub. While Seychelles is the smallest in population of any African nation with a population of around 86,000, it is becoming one of Africa's main financial offshore hubs. The island country maintains both booming tourism and real estate markets, and the government is now fully committed to transforming its economy from an agricultural to a financial oriented hub of Africa. The government has made clear measures in this development for many years. Seychelles' offshore business started in 1994 when the government launcheda series of initiatives created to establish the...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY OVERVIEW - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2014

The past decade has been good to the Seychelles.This group of 115 islands spreading in the Indian ocean northeast of Madagascar,was little known to the world until a boom in trade between the Asia and Africa suddenly found customers clamoring for local offshore services. Having passed its offshore law in 1994, Seychelles was ready to take customers on. And though it still often loses customers to the much more developed Mauritius, the Seychelles has used the increased interest to build up the infrastructure and the abilities it needs if it wants to compete with the top offshore destinations world wide....

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY OVERVIEW - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2014

What is unique in your jurisdiction and why Chinese investors should form companies there? Mauritius has all the right ingredients to make it the International Financial Centre par excellence. Chinese investors investing either into or via Mauritius can benefit from the economic, political/ legal and fiscal advantages that the Country has to offer. These advantages can be summarized as follows: Availability of professional services Strategic time zone (only 4 hours behind Asia) Strong and well diversified economy Well-developed communications infrastructure (including regular direct flights from/ to China) Political stability Modern legislation ultimate court of appeal is the Privy Council in...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY JURISDICTION 2014

The island's success story is gaining attention. Mauritius has around 30,000 global business company registrations and the number is growing. The success of the island has attracted internationa llaw firm Bedell Cristin, to set up office, as well as public acknowledgement from Joseph Stiglitz. The island's foreign direct investment is expected to increase by 8%, with inflows reaching up to US$430million this year, according to Parakash Maunthrooa, chief executive officer ofthe Mauritius Board of Investment. The island is also a key stop overfor inter-emerging market trade and investment. "[There are] around 699 global funds targeting promising emerging countries including massive investment...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY OVERVIEW - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2014

Mauritius is at the center of indian ocean trade flows connecting India, Africa, and China Mauritius has a long history of interesting wealth preservation tools, some of which have come about by accident. Two postal stage stamps produced in 1847 on the island have since gained immortality as the most valuable postage stamps in the world, appreciating from a value of one penny to roughly 4 million dollars. But more recently, and in more realistic products, Mauritius has also been ahead of the game. The island caught the offshore services bug in the 1980s and has since become a centerpiece...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY OVERVIEW - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2014

Madeira makes the most of both its separation and links with Portugal. Like so many of its European neighbors in the offshore finance world, Madeira has become increasingly focused on financial services as its traditional industries have declined. Just as in Jersey and Guernsey, a few hundred miles to the north, Madeira's economy was first dominated by agricultural, later by tourism, and in the wake of the financial crisis has stepped up its efforts to market itself as a low tax jurisdiction. Not that offshore finance is a particularly new industry to the island, one of two autonomous regions of Portugal....

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY OVERVIEW - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2014

Seychelles trusts are provided for by the International Trusts Act, 1994. A trust is created when the owner of the assets (the settlor) transfers ownership of those assets to a trustee to hold and administer under the terms of a trust deed for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries or for a charitable or other purpose. As the assets of a trust are not the property of the settlor, trusts are useful vehicles for wealth management purposes including to hold and protect family wealth and for ‘outside estate’ succession planning. Although a Seychelles trust is registered with the Seychelles Financial Services Authority...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY SPONSORED CONTENT 2019

Asia Outbound Company Formation and Funds Guide 2018 Introduction Country: Cayman Islands Region:Caribbean Currency:Cayman Islands Dollar (KYD) Languages: English Time Zone: UTC-5 Phone Code: 1-345 Communications: Good Formation Cost:3500-4500 USD$ Formation Time: 2-3 days Maintenance cost:2500-3500 USD$ The Cayman Islands is one of the world’s leading international financial centres and is a politically stable jurisdiction thatoffers companies a tax neutral platform for mutual funds, private equity funds,holding structures, structured finance, insurance companies and listing vehicles. The Cayman Islands is also home to the world’s 50 largest banks and is the second largest offshore jurisdiction for captive insurance. Approximately eight out...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY JURISDICTION 2018