Search

On January 17, the rhetorical battle against offshore services went up a notch, when Chuka Umunna, a labor MP since 2010, called on Barclay banks to close or reduce the number of its offshore subsidiaries, including 30 in the Isle of Man, 38 in Jersey and 181 in the Cayman Islands. Umunna suggested that Barclays, through its structured capital markets division, uses its offshore companies to facilitate UK tax avoidance. The UK code of practice on tax for banks, to which Barclays is signed up, requires banks not to undertake tax planning to achieve tax results contrary to the intentions...

NEWS 2020

Garth Kimber, head of E-gaming development on the Isle of Man says he expects the size of the local industry to double in 2011. E-gaming accounts for 5% of the island economy, with 24 companies set up and another 22 in the process of establishing themselves. These companies include Asian giants SBObet and 188bet.An e-gaming business is not one that can be completely run remotely. Companies have to bank locally, and have a minimum of two directors and an operations manager based on the Island. The industry employs 700 people locally. Still the island is attractive for this sort of...

NEWS 2020

According to an analysis by Global Financial Integrity, a non-governmental organization aimed at combating illegal money flows, between 2000 and 2009 the Bahamas US$1.2 billion left the country unaccounted for. These outflows were largely accomplished through trade mispricing, where invoices are marked with a price lower than what the end buyer actually paid in order to avoid customs duties. Around US$3 billion came into the country through similar channels. A spokesperson for Global Financial Integrity said that the problem was probably accentuated because of the country status as a major offshore center.Zhivargo Laing, the minister of finance of the Bahamas...

NEWS 2020

Century Banking Corporation recently opened an office in Mauritius, making it the first islamic bank to establish itself on the island, and the 20th licensed bank in Mauritius. Mauritius is attempting to turn itself into a financial center bridging Africa, the Indian sub-continent and Asia, and this new institution should bring in more business from the middle-east, Northern India and Indonesia. "For a country that is second to none in its pluralism, with our multiple identities, ethnicities, religions, languages and cultural affinities with the world, we could not stay away from Islamic banking, said Rundheersing Bheenick governor of the Bank...

NEWS 2020

Jersey held onto its position as the highest ranked offshore financial center in the Z/Yen Group ranking of the top 75 global financial centers. Jersey ranked 23rd overall, down from 22nd in the last ranking in September 2010, but it is still ranked higher than Guernsey (27th place), Isle of Man (35th place) and the Cayman Islands (38th place). Several offshore financial centers fell in the rankings, reflecting, Z/Yen suggested, a growing mistrust of offshore finance in an atmosphere of stronger regulatory limits. The Cayman Islands and Malta both dropped four places in the index, Isle of man dropped three....

NEWS 2020

Barbados Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Chris Sinckler declared that the government wouldn oll over and play dead, after a recent OECD/Global Forum Phase 1 assessment of Barbados arrangements regarding the exchange of tax information effectively placed Barbados in a category of countries which do not meet OECD standards. The island was also downgraded to a category 3 country by the UK government, implying a inability to meet international tax exchange standards. Which Sinckler noted was remature and ncludes some of the world uncooperative tax havens. /p> This matter is made especially threatening for Barbados because penalties amounting to 200%...

NEWS 2020

The Cayman Islands passed three pieces of offshore legislation yesterday, with a goal of modernizing the industry. The largest reform was 13 new provisions added to the Cayman Companies Law, as well as amendments to the companion legislation. The changes address issues ranging from uncertainty over mergers to the transfer of shares electronically as well as smaller issues such as providing for foreign script dual names on legal documents without direct translations. Issues related to treasury shares, share redemption and repurchases, and execution of documents were also touched upon. Besides the company law, amendments were made to the securities Investment...

NEWS 2020

On March 30, Seychelles signed 7 tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) in one swoop with members of the nordic alliance - Norway, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland and Sweden. This brings the Seychelles considerably closer to reaching the total number to eight. This brings the island closer to joining the OECD white list, which requires the signature of 12 TIEAs. The Seychelles has been conducting a series of reforms aimed at increasing their standing as an international financial center. Personal income tax fell from 18.75% to 15% in October of last year, and debt has been almost halved...

NEWS 2020