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Samoa’s international finance industry, administered and supervised by Samoa International Finance Authority (SIFA), was established in 2005 to provide international financial services in an innovative and meaningful manner, in order to ensure that the greatest consideration is afforded to clients seeking a jurisdiction that provides the most sensible, accessible, modern, optimum and appropriate wealth management solutions. This article provides an insight into Samoa’s offshore solutions, particularly its newly-enacted Trustee Companies Act 2014 as well as its Trusts Act 2014 and Foundations Act 2016. Its compliance culture — through active participation in the work of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

Trust is a legal contract. The settlor transfers the assets to the trustee, and the trustee needs to hold and manage the assets for the beneficiary according to the wishes of the settlor and the trustee can arrange the property effectively to the designated beneficiary. Set up Trust is becoming more and more popular, and the cost of setting up is becoming democratized. The banks can also set up a simple trust structure for its customers. Family Trust Can Give Full Play to Different Guarantees Family trust is often misunderstood as the asset allocation agreement set up for the family...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

Challenges and opportunities for new things are often the same. It's like going to a continent that never wears shoes. It's hard to convince the local people to wear shoes, but if you convince them, the market is really huge. Overseas trust is somewhat like this kind of market, after about 10 years of cultivation, in the Asian market, especially in China, most people do not gain much, they just return home, but some are still persisting in. As we all know, American trust is rising quietly because of the promotion of CRS. I would like to use the practical...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

Swiss judges find that former compliance officer breached anti-money laundering rules over $700m transfer. A former Coutts banker has been found guilty of breaching anti-money laundering laws by allowing Jho Low, the alleged mastermind of the 1MDB investment scandal, to transfer hundreds of millions into Swiss accounts without warning regulators.    In a judgment on Friday, Switzerland’s top criminal court handed down a fine of SFr50,000 ($55,000) to the banker — a former compliance officer — who it found was guilty of repeatedly ignoring internal warning signs. As is common in many Swiss legal proceedings, the court withheld the identity...

PRIVATE & INTERNATIONAL BANKING NEWS 2020

Following COVID-19, more high-net-worth individuals are exploring overseas options.   In an April interview with the Financial Times, French President Emmanuel Macron said that following the coronavirus, “it’s going to change the nature of globalization.” Writing for The Guardian, professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University, Kenneth Rogoff, said, “The post-pandemic world economy seems likely to be a far less globalized economy, with political leaders and publics rejecting openness in a manner unlike anything seen since the tariff wars and competitive devaluations of the 1930s. And the by-product will be not just slower growth but a significant fall in national...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT NEWS 2020

China has started tracking down some of its citizens living abroad to collect taxes, surprising expatriates who never had to pay levies back home on overseas income, according to people familiar with the matter.    State-owned enterprises operating in Hong Kong, which has one of the lowest tax rates in the world, told mainland Chinese expats recently to declare their 2019 income so they can pay taxes at home, according to the people, who asked not be named because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Chinese SOEs are also informing employees working in other places such as...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT NEWS 2020

  Investment raised through golden visas almost tripled (192 percent) in May, compared to the same month of 2019, to €146 million, according to statistics from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF). Last month, the total investment resulting from the granting of Residence Authorisation for Investment (ARI) reached €146,168,473.40, which represents an increase of 192 percent compared to the €50 million recorded in May 2019.   May recorded the highest monthly investment amount raised since March 2017, when €192.4 million were raised in ARI. In relation to April (€28 million), the investment raised more than quintupled (421 percent).   In...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT NEWS 2020

1. What is the single most important advantage your jurisdiction provides for Chinese clients? Curaçao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, so it is a very transparent jurisdiction with a modern tax code that is similar to the Dutch tax code. Curaçao is not only a logistical gateway to Latin America with its natural harbor – with one of the largest container terminals in the Caribbean, a refinery and a large modern shipyard – but it can be considered a financial gateway to Latin America too. Curaçaohas an excellent financial sector, extremely favorable tax trading regimes, and modern holding...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT Q&A - COMPANY FORMATION 2020