Despite continuous interest-rate hikes and never-ending warnings about the possibility of more government belt-tightening measures, the red-hot property market in mainland China will still be an investment focus of foreign investors this year, who will go on buying buildings en bloc and teaming up with local or foreign partners to develop new projects, in anticipation of handsome returns and the appreciation of the nation's currency, the yuan. (Source: www.cbiz.cn)


Moore Stephens Monaco have reported that the Principality has issued a new law on companies which introduces a new corporate vehicle known as the SARL (société à resposibilité limitée). The new legislation modifies the Civil Code, the Commercial Code, and various Sovereign Ordinances and Laws. The new SARL is intended to provide a limited liability vehicle to enable smaller entrepreneurs based in the Principality to operate more flexibly and at a lower cost. The minimum share capital to be fixed by sovereign order is expected to be E15,000. (Source: tax-news.com)


The government of South Korea has announced that foreign asset managers' offshore funds will not be exempt from capital gains taxes, because it is unable to collect the necessary data from the foreign asset managers to assess their level of taxes. The announcement follows the decision by the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE) in January to give only investments in domestic asset managers' overseas equity funds an exemption regarding the 15.4% capital gains taxes for three years. (Source: Tax-News.com)


According to WealthBriefing, a new association for trust companies in Switzerland is soon to be launched. A number of STEP members in Switzerland have been meeting to prepare the groundwork for the new national association. While STEP focuses on the individual, the new association will focus on the objectives and needs of corporate trustees in Switzerland. The Swiss Association of Trust Companies, SATC, will be officially launched before the summer. (Source: www.wealthbriefing.com)


The Canadian Securities Administrators announced on Tuesday they are seeking comments on a proposed rule to force all hedge funds to register under a set of national, harmonized guidelines. (source: Investors Offshore)


Continuing its expansion across key cities in China, Citibank has announced the opening of three new consumer outlets in Beijing, Tianjin, and Shenzhen. With the new branch openings, Citibank now has 16 outlets in China. (Source: www.banking-business-review.com)


Four of the UK's high street banks will be compelled to hand over details of their customers' offshore accounts to HM Revenue and Customs. The ruling in favour of the UK tax authority was delivered by the Finance and Tax Tribunals Special Commissioners, and is reported to pertain to offshore accounts held with HSBC, HBOS, Lloyds TSB, and Royal Bank of Scotland. It is expected that HMRC will receive around GBP275million in additional revenue from taxpayers with previously undeclared assets held overseas by the banks in question. (Source: Tax-News.com)


Pressure is growing on Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen to announce tax cuts in next month's budget speech given an expected mammoth budget surplus of up to US$4bn. (Source: tax-news.com)


A draft Legal Practitioners Bill which aims to provide for more modern regulation and discipline of the legal profession has been published for public comment by the Cayman Islands government. (Source: cayman-islands-news)


US Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab announced on Friday that the United States has requested World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement consultations with the People’s Republic of China, regarding its provision of subsidies that appear to be prohibited by WTO rules. (Source: Xinhua)


The latest statistics on Jersey’s finance industry, compiled by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, show a general upswing. For example, the net asset value of funds under administration reached nearly £180 billion ($354 billion) at 31 December 2006. (Source: wealthbriefing.com)


Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang ends a three-day visit to Beijing, where he attended the inaugural China-Singapore Investment Promotion Committee (IPC) meeting, today. (Source: tax-news.com)


It has emerged that following the termination of its 1929 holding company regime at the beginning of this year, the Luxembourg government has launched its planned replacement, known as the Family Private Assets Management Company, or SPF. (Source: Tax-News.com)


Australia's hedge fund industry has developed to the point that it is now the hedge fund capital of Asia, according to India's Economic Times newspaper. Australian hedge fund assets under management have more than quadrupled in the three years to June 2006 to reach A$62 billion ($48 billion) outstripping Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo, while the number of actual funds have doubled to 130. Retail investors are also strongly involved in Australian hedge funds, comprising 65 per cent of assets under management compared to 45 per cent worldwide. (Source: www.wealthbriefing.com)


The Cayman Islands has steadily grown to become one of the world's top providers of structured finance transactions, according to the Cayman government's financial services industry promoter. Cayman Islands financial service providers told the American Securitization Forum (ASF), held in Las Vegas last month, that structured finance transactions in the Cayman Islands tripled in three years, from 837 in 2003 to 2,512 in 2006. (Source: Tax-News.com)


The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met with senior Chinese economic officials to put the case for a more flexible currency exchange rate last month. IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato Figaredo said after the meetings that the officials had reiterated their objective of advancing the exchange reform and allowing greater flexibility over time to reflect market conditions. (Source: Xinhua)


The government of Barbados is planning to establish a Financial Services Commission with the aim of enhancing the supervision and regulation of financial institutions in Barbados, Minister of Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Business Development, Senator Lynette Eastmond, has disclosed. (Source: Tax-News.com)


With the restructuring of China's postal system, the China Postal Savings Bank has been formed with the aim of broadening access to financial services across the country. The institution aims to become the country's fifth-largest bank after the "Big Four" state lenders. On January 29, the restructured State Post Bureau (SPB) and thenewly established China Post Group (CPG) were officially launched as a result of China's restructuring of its postal system. (Source: www.atimes.com)


As expected, the European Commission has officially decided that certain company tax regimes in Swiss cantons in favour of holding, mixed and management companies are a form of state aid incompatible with the proper functioning of the 1972 Agreement between the EU and Switzerland. (Source: Tax-News.com)


The increase of venture capital funding in promising new areas of China could put US startups at a disadvantage as they compete for funds. Last year, VCs invested $920.7 million in information technology companies in China, up 34% from 2005. Venture capital players are increasingly betting on Chinese startups that supply the software, chips, and networks that feed the country's 400 million cell-phone users' desire for wireless data - which includes applications like instant-messaging, video-uploads, and mobile web searches. Analysts said the funding shift could pressure Silicon Valley startups to devise business models with extremely meager cost structures as a way to attract venture capital. (Source: chinaeconomicreview.com)