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04
News
Switzerland told to
stick to chocolate
For years, Switzerland has had a fraud under Swiss rules. called for governments worldwide
reputation for secrecy and choco- “Notwithstanding this historic to combat financial secrecy and
lates. US and UK authorities are agreement, the very next day the pledged to make this a top priority
sending a clear message to taxpay- US government filed a new sub- at the G20 summit of leading
ers: stick to the sweet stuff, accord- poena in Miami federal court industrial nations in April. A pre-
ing to Milan Patel of international seeking full enforcement of its July G20 meeting of European leaders
law firm Withers. 2008 UBS ‘John Doe’ subpoena resulted in a statement calling for
Swiss bank giant UBS has entered and increasing the number of new sanctions against so-called
into a deferred prosecution agree- alleged US ‘undeclared accounts’ at ‘tax havens’; a list of such jurisdic-
ment under which it has agreed to UBS to 52,000,” says Patel. tions is to be published by 2 April.
pay $780 million in fines and The increased pressure on UBS Additional fuel is simultaneously
acknowledged that certain bankers and other banks comes amid being added to the fire with the
assisted US taxpayers in concealing increasing acrimony directed developing Antigua based Stanford
ownership or beneficial interest in toward offshore financial centres Group scandal. These events fol-
accounts. UBS further agreed to more generally. Immediately fol- low on the heels of the US presi-
the monumental step of turning lowing the US – UBS agreement, dential election in which Barack
over the names of 250 to 300 of European governments called for Obama took aim at offshore juris-
these individuals who were deter- similar information exchange dictions allegedly costing the US
mined to have committed tax ‘courtesies’. Gordon Brown has $100bn in annual tax revenues.
Increased spending
Singapore remains at
by China may create
number one
investment boom
Singapore has retained its status But cities in mainland China
as the best location for expatriates held on to last year's higher
China’s investment plan may in Asia, while Hong Kong has fall- rankings and have become more
double over the next three years, en behind Tokyo because of bad liveable in the past year as a result
thus possibly triggering an eco- air pollution, an annual survey of infrastructure development,
nomic boom similar to the one released in March shows. ECA said. Shanghai stayed in
created by the late Deng Xiaoping Singapore was ranked the best 12th place, ahead of Seoul,
in the early 1990s. location for the 10th consecutive while Nanjing was in 13th
The increased investment year, followed by Japanese cities position.
might reach as much as eight tril- Kobe, Yokohama and Tokyo, The survey aims to help com-
lion yuan from the original esti-
downturn. This figure could easi- according to the survey by panies establish expat allowances.
mate of four trillion yuan
ly be maintained during the London-based ECA. The investi- Companies may be seeking to
($585bn). This figure would arise
forthcoming ten years, due to the gation ranked cities by climate, air slash expat packages during the
from additional programmes ini-
country’s strong fiscal situation quality, health services, housing global economic downturn but
tiated by both central and provin-
and its high level of foreign and personal safety, among other ECA claim only a handful of cities
cial governments,
reserves and savings. In addition, categories. in Asia offer expatriate staff a
China’s growth has slowed dur-
an estimated 600 million rural “Good infrastructure and good standard of living.
ing the past 18 months due to a
dwellers are expected to migrate healthcare facilities, low crime and Most of the 49 Asian locations
fall in export demand and a slow-
to the cities during this period. health risks, and decent air quality ranked remain challenging for
ing property market. The conse-
Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 tour of contribute to Singapore providing one reason or another, and there-
quence is pressure on the
southern China was a spring- the best quality of living for Asian fore warrant high location
government to add to increased
board for several years of rapid assignees,” said Lee Quane, Asian allowances, it said.
spending and the interest-rate
growth. director of ECA International, China remains classified as a
cuts that took place last year. The
The value of China’s new loans which advises on expatriate pack- hardship posting, with pollution
increased spending and a surge in
in January was more than double ages and allowances. remaining a major problem.
bank lending during the past few
the record set a year earlier, when Bad air quality and inferior However, infrastructure develop-
months should fuel growth of at
the central bank had encouraged health facilities pushed Hong ment, low crime rates and politi-
least eight percent during 2009,
lenders to back the government’s Kong into fifth place, from its cal stability put China well ahead
despite the global economic
economic stimulus projects. position of fourth last year. of India in the rankings.
March 2009 Investment International www.investmentinternational.com
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