Search

The economy has diversified from sugar production into tourism and financial services. The government has become more business-friendly and lately has been economically sound. Barbados offers a wide range of offshore formats, and benefits from profitable trade partnerships with the US and Canada. The offshore insurance sector is booming, and there are a growing number of offshore banks. The stock exchange is fully computerized with a central depositary, although mutual funds have not yet developed strongly. There is a wide range of corporate formats, but the taxation structure is complex, although not unduly high. There are manufacturing and other domestic...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY OVERVIEW - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2014

What are the key advantages of your jurisdiction in terms of privacy & asset protection for a Chinese HNWI or Family (etc.) looking to succeed their assets to the next generation? In an increasingly transparent world Barbados offers a range of mechanisms that enable Chinese HNWI & families to operate regulated and legally tax compliant structures from within Barbados.  Such structures will be robust and withstand review and will not therefore be deconstructed and ultimately fail due to lack of legal tax compliance when reviewed by Chinese or other tax authorities. In terms of cost, how is the cost of...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY JURISDICTION 2015

For many people, Switzerland is both miraculous and mysterious. In films, we frequently see scenes like this: one of the richest people in the world walks quietly into a private bank in a street corner in Switzerland, where he has deposited a hefty chunk of cash. Switzerland has a national territorial area of more than 40,000 km2. It is a little larger than Hainan Province, a little smaller than the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and about half the size of Chongqing, China. Switzerland has a population of over eight million, which is equivalent to the population of Shandong Province’s Jining...

PRIVATE & INTERNATIONAL BANKING SPONSORED CONTENT 2019

By Iain Manley. Offshore financial centers may have taken their cue from Switzerland's legal system, but it is the islands of Britain's former empire that have come to define them. Islands were a first foothold in foreign places for not just the British but all of Europe's empire builders. They were centers of trade and jumping off points, where diplomats, missionaries and merchants prepared for expeditions to the nearby continents. Hong Kong was a staging post for China, Singapore for Southeast Asia, the West Indies for North America, and in many ways, they all still are. Like many of the...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY OVERVIEW - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2014

There are institutions for high-net-worth families constantly emerging in the third-party service market for Chinese family-owned enterprises. Whether it is a family office, a private bank, an accounting firm, or a law firm, at their core these institutions are mostly focused on family wealth management. Before delving into wealth management, we first need to understand the current stage of development of the Chinese family within the investment industry and the challenges involved. For the time being, we can't directly apply ready-made solutions that work for other markets. It is only effective and meaningful to develop products and services while bearing...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY EXPERT INSIGHTS 2019

In the post-CRS era, when Chinese entrepreneurs intend to expand overseas markets, establish branches, or build their own international brand, they will often consider registering companies in countries or regions outside mainland China. In the current context of international tax transparency, OFFSHORE operations are being transformed into ONSHORE, and it has become difficult for pure OFFSHORE operations to meet tax planning needs. Secondly, in addition to tax planning considerations for corporate income tax, business owners also have to consider personal income tax – that is, changing their tax residency status. In order to officially change our tax status, we must...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY EXPERT INSIGHTS 2019

The recent China visit by Mr. Freundel J. Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados is bound to foster a closer economic partnership between the two nations. Asia Outbound is honoured to have interviewed His Excellency The Honourable Mr. Freundel Jerome Stuart, the Prime Minister of Barbados. Below is a vivid manifest of how a relatively new offshore player wishes to perform for Chinese offshore clientele. Q: What is the current macroeconomic prospect for Barbados under the backdrop of a slow, frail global recovery from the worst crisis since the 1930s, whilst new debt crises in the US and Europe are alarming...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY JURISDICTION 2014

By James Zhang. Since the offshore finance sector had become a backbone industry for Barbados' economy in the late 1990s, the magnitude and spectra of Barbadian banking and related services have been expanding immensely. The overwhelming majority of the clientele of Barbados' 47 offshore banks plus hundreds of trust, insurance and consulting service providers sitting on an island of 431 square kilometers, is overseas. Barbadian and Chinese governments came into an agreement in July 2000 to avoid double taxation, Chinese investments in the Caribbean nation has surged henceforth. Barbadian Prime Minister Freundel Stuart visited China with stopovers in Beijing and Shanghai...

PRIVATE & INTERNATIONAL BANKING OVERVIEW - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2014