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BEPS ALERT – OECD Formally Identifies Aspects of Barbados’ Preferential Tax Regime as ‘Harmful’

… and reports that that it and other ‘identified’countries are in the process of  rapidly dismantling these rules. Barbados’ preferential tax regime has been formally identified as facilitating tax avoidance by multinationals; and reducing the tax base of other countries in an OECD report released on Monday. The report deems several tax regimes “potentially harmful,” which means that the regime…

PM MAY DEFINES ‘BREXIT MEANS BREXIT’

Today, in an address which lasted just over forty minutes, former ‘Remainer’, Prime Minister Theresa May,added some content and context to her well-worn maxim: brexit means brexit. For her, brexit means brexit, means: 1. Restoring full sovereignty to the UK Parliamentary and legal system; with a clear retreat from the EU legal tradition and its influence on judicial decision-making. 2. Full and…

THE ‘PANAMA PAPERS’ SPECTACULAR U-TURN

Within hours of 2017, we were treated to a masterclass on how a country could give effect to the common Old Year’s night refrain ‘out with the old and in with the new’. Writing in the Op-ed section of the Miami Herald, President of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela,  expressed his hope that, “one day, Panamanians would come to regard the Panama Papers as a badge of honor; a moment where we took the lead…

ALERT! EU LEAKS PRELIMINARY BLACKLIST

Bloomberg BNA has reported that the EU has leaked documents around the Commission’s plans for the next stage of the blacklist process. Based on documents seen by Bloomberg BNA, the 28 countries targeted by the EU Code of Conduct Group for Business Taxation include a range of Pacific or Caribbean nations with offshore financial centers. Among them is Belize, Grenada, Cook Islands, Montserrat, Cabo…

More than 100 jurisdictions have today concluded negotiations on a multilateral instrument that will swiftly implement a series of tax treaty measures to update international tax rules and lessen the opportunity for tax avoidance by multinational enterprises. The new instrument will transpose results from the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project (BEPS) into more than 2 000 tax…

3 US Banks Assessed as More Systemically Important Financial Insitutions

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), in consultation with Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and national authorities, has identified the 2016 list of global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), using end-2015 data and the updated assessment methodology published by the BCBS in July 2013. In November 2011 the FSB published an integrated set of policy measures to address the systemic…

​ Latest US Statement on De-Risking, Financial Access and Transparency. Remarks by Acting Under Secretary Adam Szubin at the ABA/ ABA Money Laundering Enforcement Conference 11/14/2016  ​  As prepared for delivery   WASHINGTON – Thank you, Rob, for your kind introduction and thank you to the American Bankers Association and American Bar Association for inviting me to speak today.  I recognize…

Europe may be picking a fight with the United States of America even before President-Elect Trump takes office. Here’s Why The Big Interview The EU’s tax haven blacklist is taking shape, as the European Commission uses the momentum generated by the LuxLeaks and Panama Papers scandals. Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici did not rule out including the United States on the list, in an interview with…

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Brexit Brief: UK Parliament Gets The Vote.

UK HIGH COURT RULING IN R (MILLER) V SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EXITING THE EUROPEAN UNION The United Kingdom’s High Court handed down its ruling in R(Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on November 3, 2016. In one of the most important constitutional law cases ever before the UK courts, the Court held that the Crown (as exercised through the executive of the day) has no…

Latest IMF Statement On De-Risking

The Caribbean Response to the Withdrawal of Correspondent Banking Conference on the Withdrawal of Correspondent Banking Relationships IMF Deputy Managing Director Tao Zhang Antigua and Barbuda October 28, 2016 Honorable Prime Minister, central bank governors, and distinguished guests, good morning! It is a pleasure to join all of you here. I am so pleased to be able to join you on my first…

EU-Canada CETA: Seven things to Know

  After a week more akin to the nail-biting final minutes of a suspense film, the European Union (EU) and Canada have finally signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) yesterday Sunday, October 30, 2016. This sets the stage for the agreement to be provisionally applied. Here are seven quick things to know about CETA: CETA is the EU’s first completed free trade agreement with a…

With its origins stemming from 2008 in the time of the financial crisis, Bitcoin and its blockchain technology concept has been likened to be as groundbreaking as the Internet. It is believed that it can do for financial transactions, what the internet has done for information. Despite this heralded conjecture, the implementation of such blockchain technology has received mixed reviews by…

FATF Issues Important New Guidance on Correspondent Banking

New FATF Guidance confirms that  FATF Recommendations do not require correspondent financial institutions to conduct customer due diligence on each individual customer of their respondent institutions’ customers.  The guidance also highlights that not all correspondent banking relationships carry the same level of money laundering or terrorist financing risks, hence any enhanced due diligence…

It’s Time to Focus on the ‘Softer’ Side of Brexit

May-ism will soon come to define  Theresa May’s prime ministerial legacy.  Happily for the feminist lobby, PM May is more that a pair of quirky kitty heels. So far she has been decisive, clear and almost Churchill-like in working with the political ‘hand’ she has embraced. Thus far, she has ‘played’  well to the British bull rink; and those armchair would-be government advisers who are not shy in…