IIp4-6_news.qxd 22/4/09 22:56 Page 7
News
05
Jersey and Guernsey remain off
tax haven blacklist
France and Germany made their Man have all signed Tax own foundation law later this year. Agreements to date including four
opposition to tax havens very Information Exchange Agreements Alan Binnington, private client with G20 nations – the USA, the
clear at the G20 summit on 2 (TIEAs) with the UK, France, director at Royal Bank of Canada UK, Germany, and most recently,
April. Agreement was reached that Germany, Ireland, and other Wealth Management, commented, France,” he says. “The French
countries that refuse to pass infor- countries within the European “The main thrust of our private agreement provides for certain
mation to foreign tax authorities Union. å wealth business in the Channel property tax exemptions for peo-
to help catch potential evaders Commentators in both Jersey and Islands is the transfer of wealth ple who own French property
will face sanctions in future. Guernsey believe they will benefit from one generation to another. through Jersey companies and
The governments of Jersey and from a cracking down on rival cen- One of the interesting features of trusts.”
Guernsey are not on the ‘blacklist’ tres. Jersey aims to have a foundation legislation in Jersey Peter Niven, chief executive of
as they already significantly con- Foundations Law on the statute will be the level of regulation. I Guernsey Finance, echoes the
form to internationally agreed book by June, which will create think the new climate is a threat point. “We have now signed 13
standards. Both of the Channel continental-style versions of off- to some international centres but Tax Information Exchange
Islands have signed up to anti- shore trusts. Jersey claims its foun- not all of them. Jersey has long Agreements, one more than the
money laundering conventions. dations will offer more believed in a level playing field benchmark set by the
They are also signatories to the transparency than those domiciled and transparency.” Organisation for Economic Co-
European Savings Directive, in many other jurisdictions, with Geoff Cook, chief executive of operation and Development
which is geared to preventing tax Liechtenstein in particular being Jersey Finance, delivers a similarly (OECD) for the most compliant
evasion in the European Union. the subject of trenchant criticism. robust message. “Jersey has signed jurisdictions on transparency,” he
Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Guernsey will follow suit with its 12 Tax Information Exchange observes.
Brazil boosted by low
Recession in Europe
interest rates
worsens as
Foreign direct investment of The TJLP rate is a long-term
$3.9bn in Brazil in 2009 has rate which reflects the basic cost
investment falls
helped ensure Brazilian stocks of financing granted by the gov-
remained buoyant during the cur- ernment-backed development
Europe’s recession has taken a of the year,” said Dominic Bryant,
rent year. bank BNDES. BNDES provides
sharp turn for the worse, as fig- an economist at BNP Paribas in
The positive outlook stems funds for key infrastructure,
ures for the last quarter for 2008 London. “While private consump-
from a number of factors, not industrial and agricultural proj-
indicate a sharp decline in both tion looks to have held up better
least the latest US plan to deal ects.
consumer spending and produc- than first thought, we doubt that
with toxic assets held by American Palmer recently returned from
tion. it will last now that employment
financial institutions. Chris a trip to Brazil, where he met key
Figures released by the is falling.”
Palmer, Head of Global Emerging investment figures. He is
European Union in Luxembourg The euro has continued to
Markets at investment company impressed by the country’s strong
indicate that gross domestic prod- decline against both the dollar
Gartmore, believes that Brazil has institutions and well-capitalised
uct in the euro region fell by 1.6% and the yen. The decline in con-
not been unaffected by the global financial sector. The devaluation
in comparison to the previous sumer spending, at 0.9%, was less
recession. However, he identifies of the real against the US dollar
three months. This is worse than than originally anticipated.
certain features that should assist works to Brazil’s advantage, as the
the projection of a 1.5% contrac- However, retail sales showed a
with the country’s recovery. country is an exporter of US dol-
tion issued in March. record decline of 4% during
“Brazil is suffering from the lar-based commodity products.
The Organisation for Economic February.
‘global stop’ that has paralysed the
Cooperation and Development Joerg Kraemer, chief economist
world economy, and companies
has predicted that the economy at Commerzbank AG in
are paying a much higher credit
will decline by 4.1% this year, as Frankfurt, observed that in the
risk premium than a year ago,”
compared to a growth of 0.8% past weeks, economists have sig-
Palmer states. “But we expect to
during 2008. The European nificantly lowered their growth
see real interest rates falling
Central Bank (ECB) is considering forecasts
sharply in the next few months.
additional steps to kick-start the During the first week in April
Baseline measures, like the TJLP
economy in the aftermath of cut- the ECB cut its benchmark inter-
reference rate, have kept nominal
ting interest rates to a record low. est rate by 25 basis points to
rates artificially high. We think
“The big picture remains one of 1.25%, taking its reductions since
this will change.” © Zts
exceptional weakness at the start early October to 300 basis points.
www.investmentinternational.com April 2009 Investment International
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36