China Development Bank (CDB) will partner with United Bank for Africa (UBA), one of Nigeria's biggest lenders, to continue to finance infrastructure projects in Africa. The deal, along with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's 20% investment in South Africa's Standard Bank, marks an opening up to Chinese finance on the continent, which had previously been mainly dependent on Western companies and donors. (Source: chinaeconomicreview.com)


The Law on Maritime Cargo Scanning Requirements is designed to ensure freight containers aren't used by terrorists to smuggle weapons or bomb materials into the U.S. Companies that make the giant $5 million X-ray or gamma-ray machines needed to scan shipping containers are anticipating a boom in orders as roughly 700 ports around the world gear up for the U.S. rules, which take effect in 2012. It is estimated the average start-up cost for a port to buy and support the scanners will be around $100 million, too much to make business sense for some minor ports. (Source: WSJ.com)


New Zealand has entered into a new double tax agreement with Mexico. Although the agreement entered into force on 16 June 2007, it took effect in both countries from 1 August 2007 for withholding tax, and for other taxes generally from 1 January 2008 in Mexico and from 1 April 2008 in New Zealand. (Source: bakerxchange.com)


From October, all foreigners, overseas Chinese and people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in the south China city of Guangzhou should have to declare their personal income for tax purposes. For those working for a local company, the responsibility to declare earnings will be with the employer. Authorities have established a computerized records system and since May, have been urging businesses to set up files for all their foreign workers to allow tax collectors easy access to detailed information on income tax payments. (Source: China Daily)


Although instability in the Israeli government continues and with border skirmishes ongoing, the economy remains a robust specimen with 5% expansion in 2006 and the present rate of 6% is projected to continue into the next year. Israel is the single non-oil-based EMEA economy predicted to enjoy a currentaccount surplus in 2007. Much of current Israeli economic strength results from the native capital markets fortified by the almost nonexistent inflation, low interest rates, and valuations well within reason for the market. (Source: Offshore Investment)


Europe should join a drive to forge an agreement between the world's biggest economies to fight piracy, the European Commission said. An Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, first proposed by the United States and Japan, would bolster efforts to protect intellectual property globally. It would also protect consumers from counterfeit products. The trade in counterfeited consumer goods has reached $200 billion a year, or 2 percent of world trade. (Source: Reuters)


China's central bank said it will expand its current anti-money-laundering campaign to additional sectors, including securities, insurance, real estate, legal services and the lottery. China is expected to revise the articles on money laundering and terrorism financing in its criminal law in the near future in order to increase efficiency of investigation and prosecution of these cases. (Source: chinaeconomicreview.com)


Net profit at the European private banking unit of KBC was €44 million ($64.4 million), down 1 per cent in the third quarter year-on-year and down 23 per cent from the previous quarter. For the first nine months, KBL European Private Bankers unit increased its net result by 7 per cent year-on-year. Overall, the bank closed the third quarter of 2007 with a net profit of €639 million, up 5 per cent year-on-year. (Source: wealthbriefing.com)


ING has announced that it will strengthen its distribution channels in Belgium by investing in its internet banking platform. In line with the new Dutch retail strategy, ING Belgium has developed a transformation program that will allow the bank to accelerate its growth by leveraging its direct channels with its branch network. ING Belgium is planning to extend its products and services offering by adding new functionality to its internet banking platform and double its call centre capacity. (Source: banking-business-review.com)


The first approval in more than a decade for a Chinese bank to open a U.S. branch could open the way for others and raises hopes that Beijing, in turn, will open its financial markets wider to American firms. China Merchants Bank Co., the country's sixth-largest bank by assets, won approval from the U.S. Federal Reserve in early November to set up a branch in New York. An application by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. is pending with regulators, and the Chinese lender hopes to get a green light soon. (Source: WSJ.com)


Microsoft will pay $240m for 1.6% of Facebook. That is a very small stake, but it nonetheless values the three-year-old firm at $15 billion, an amount that experts think is mad. For about three years, Microsoft has realized that its future has to be online advertising—even though Google, the world's largest search engine, is the clear leader in this young industry. Microsoft has built its own online-advertising network, called adCenter, to try to compete with Google's. (Source: economist.com)


On October 16, 2007, Brazilian law enforcement officials arrested at least forty four persons in connection with a tax fraud scheme involving top officials of the high technology multinational Cisco Systems and its leading distributor in Brazil, Mude Business and Services. The arrests concern allegations of tax fraud and other offense involving non-payments of up to R$1.5 billion ($830 million) in duties, import fraud, concealment of property, tax fraud, use of false documents, evasion of foreign exchange control, and corruption. (Source: International Enforcement Law Reporter)


It is announced that a new income tax treaty is signed between the United States and Iceland, which brings the existing agreement into closer conformity with current US tax treaty policy. The taxes to which the Convention will apply in Iceland are the income taxes to the state and the income tax to the municipalities. In the U.S., the taxes to which the Convention shall apply are the Federal income taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue Code, and the Federal excise taxes imposed with respect to private foundations. (Source: LawAndTax-News.com)


The first bank-backed Chinese trust firm was established in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, on Oct.28. Bank of Communications (BOCOM), which had bought 85% of the Hubei International Trust and Investment Company from the province's finance department, finished restructuring the company to form the new firm, called BOCOM-International Trust. Chinese commercial banks had been barred from making trust investments until the end of last year. (Source: chinaeconomicreview.com)


The UK and Saudi Arabia signed their first comprehensive double tax convention (the "New Convention") on October 31, 2007 in London. When the New Convention is eventually ratified and enters into force, it will significantly ease the tax burden on cross border investments by UK and Saudi residents. This development will be welcomed by investors and multinationals and is likely to promote further integration of the two countries' economies. (Source: bakerxchange.com)


Following the phenomenal growth of the Isle of Man’s fund sector from USD7 billion in 2003 to USD50.1 billion as at 30 June 2007, the Isle of Man government has launched a newly updated funds regime to attract both asset managers and fund domiciliation. The majority of fund business in the Isle of Man has usually involved funds domiciled elsewhere normally in the Cayman Islands, but it is hoped that this new drive will encourage managers to consider using a Manx investment vehicle instead. The new measures took effect on 1 Nov.1st, 2007. (Source: Offshore Investment)


The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has entered into an historic Memorandum of Understanding with the United States Banking Supervisors. The four federal US agencies principally responsible for banking supervision in the United States - the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of Thrift Supervision have all joined as parties to a comprehensive statement of co-operation with the DFSA. (Source: Tax-News.com)


Aiming to list on the New York Stock Exchange is the company that owns Zhengtu Network, which makes massive multiplayer-online role-playing games. Giant Interactive Group, a holding company based in the Cayman Islands, filed a preliminary prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to which, Giant plans to offer about 57.2 million shares at $12 to $14 each. (Source: WSJ.conm)


Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) will create a cross-border investment-banking environment throughout Europe. From November 1, all existing and new outsourcing contracts have to comply with guidelines set out by the Financial Services Authority, which covers issues such as exit strategies and business continuity. Given that most outsourcing contracts take up half a shelf of file space, UK firms have been reluctant to sift through them or enter potentially tricky conversations with suppliers. (Source: banking-business-review)


The Australian Tax Office has updated the status of its public rulings program. Public rulings include all forms of written advice issued by the Tax Office involving the interpretation of GST law. They are binding on the Tax Commissioner and deal with issues which affect a cross-section or a large number of taxpayers. The Program shows the tax rulings proposed for issue during the remainder of 2007 and early 2008, including in respect of GST. (Source: bakerxchange.com)


Standard Chartered could be put into play as a £25 billion takeover target after it emerged that China's three leading banks have been looking at buying a large stake in the UK-based emerging markets lender. Senior executives at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank are understood to have sounded out the Singapore state investment agency over a possible sale of its 17 per cent stake in Standard Chartered. (Source: timesonline.co.uk)


Lenovo Group Ltd. plans to sever ties with the IBM brand name earlier than expected and a sign the computer company is ready to stand on its own. Lenovo won the right to use the IBM brand on its products in 2005, when the Chinese company bought the personal computer arm of IBM for $1.25 billion. With the acquisition, Lenovo inherited the IBM ThinkPad line and was allowed to use the IBM name on its products until 2010. But now IBM ThinkPads will be rebranded Lenovo ThinkPads. (Source: WSJ.com)


A spokesperson for the Dutch bank confirmed on Nov.15 that its private banking division added eight bankers, six of them from HSBC from Taiwan to total 160. This represents a 50% increase from this time last year. ABN AMRO is hiring to keep pace with the growth in assets under management; between 2005 and now, the bank has increased AUM from $10 billion to around $20 billion. The other two come from Taishin and Blackrock. All eight hires are at assistant vice president level and currently based in Taiwan. (Source: financeasia.com)


Funds serviced in Ireland have surpassed the US$1.6 trillion mark after experiencing growth of 35% in the year to the end of June 2007, according to Lipper's Ireland Fund Encyclopaedia. Lipper's research shows that Ireland's fund servicing industry has posted its largest asset growth in three years, with 5,646 funds now serviced by the industry in Ireland. The report also shows that Ireland continues to grow as a fund domicile, with the value of funds having reached US$1.1 trillion by the end of June 2007, up from US$806 billion a year earlier. (Source: Investors Offshore.com)


BHP Billiton has made the first move in a bid to create a natural resources giant and one of the world's largest companies, with a takeover approach to its arch- rival Rio Tinto. Although the approach was rejected out of hand, BHP is thought to be ready for a protracted campaign and analysts predicted it would go hostile if necessary. The combined entity would be the world's biggest producer of iron ore, copper and aluminium, and a major player in coal, zinc and diamonds. (Source: ftchinese.com)