Jersey Finance has teamed up with JATCo to host a Seminar for London Trust Lawyers, Accountants and other Financial Services Professionals to recap on the benefits of the recently approved Trusts (Jersey) (Amendment No. 4) Law, which has been designed to maintain and enhance Jersey’s position as one of the world’s leading international trust jurisdictions, and to look ahead to planned future developments in Jersey’s legislative framework. (Source: STEP)


The Conservative government, having just shut down one costly tax avoidance scheme, income trusts, now has another in its sights: offshore tax havens.

Flaherty has introduced a motion in the Commons to amend the Income Tax Act to prevent "non-resident trusts and foreign investment entities" from using offshore tax havens to avoid tax.(Source: www.ibctoday.com)


As the Australian government delayed a Senate vote on a controversial capital gains bill, Finance Minister Nick Minchin ruled out any election year tax cuts that might "over-stimulate" the economy.A spokesman for the Finance Minister confirmed that the government will defer consideration of the Tax Laws Amendment (2006 Measures No.4) Bill, which was scheduled to be debated by lawmakers yesterday.

However, the spokesman added that the government had not abandoned the bill, and would reintroduce the legislation at a later date.According to Australian media reports, the proposals would give foreign investors exemption from capital gains on certain types of income, but they were not supported by all in the Liberal/National coalition government. (Source: TaxNews.com)


Rangel says he instead wants to focus first on solving the vexing alternative minimum tax, a complicated portion of the tax code originally aimed to catch wealthy tax dodgers but hitting more and more middle class taxpayers. About 4 million tax filers are estimated to pay the AMT when doing their 2006 taxes, but that figure jumps to 23 million filers for the 2007 tax year.(Source: China Daily)


The British Virgin Islands will have new laws on private trust companies from January 1, 2007, Robert Mathavious, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the BVI Financial Services Commission, has announced.

The legislation will be introduced by amending the Financial Services Commission Act and issuing a new Regulatory Code under that Act which will enable certain categories of companies to apply, on a fast-track basis, for exemptions from the licensing requirements and other provisions of the BVI’s Banks and Trust Companies Act. (Source: TaxNews.com)


The FATF has conducted an examination of the ways in which Corporate Vehicles (legal entities, including corporations, trusts, foundations and partnerships with limited liability) can be exploited for money laundering or terrorist financing purposes. The study of corporate vehicles found evidence of their misuse for money laundering / terrorist financing. The report identifies a number of risk factors and concludes that this misuse could be significantly reduced if governments have access to information about the beneficial owner, the source of assets, and the business objective of the company or trust. (Source: FATF-gafi.org)


ABN AMRO Private Banking and Compagnie Monégasque de Banque (CMB) have reached an agreement in principle regarding the sale of the private banking activities of ABN AMRO in Monaco to CMB, a subsidiary of Mediobanca from Italy. The transaction is expected to close in December 2006.

The sale of the private banking activities in Monaco fits within the strategy of ABN AMRO Private Banking to focus further on optimizing the global private banking network within ABN AMRO. Divesting our activities in Monaco will allow the bank to focus on growth in other markets within its global private banking network to enhance the efficiency of that network. ABN AMRO Private Banking has been present in Monaco since 1990. The total number of employees is 24. (Source: ABN AMRO)


Japan is ready to launch negotiations with Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates towards the conclusion of separate bilateral tax treaties, its first such agreements with Gulf-based countries.

Tokyo has announced that negotiations with the UAE are due to be held from November 13 to 15, and talks with Kuwait are scheduled to commence on November 27 and will last until November 29. (Source: TaxNews.com)


Canada Life International has launched its new Wealth Preservation Account (WPA), designed to mitigate Inheritance Tax by allowing individuals to make a gift of capital whilst still retaining flexible, periodic access to cash if circumstances change.

This unique product is intended to be exempt from any income tax on pre-owned assets and outside the charge to capital gains tax, whilst minimising income tax and Inheritance Tax that may become payable in the future.

The WPA allows individuals to invest as much as they wish in a series of single premium life assurance policies, with a minimum investment of ￡50,000. These are settled on a bare trust and discretionary trust arrangement for a fixed term until they reach a known maturity date. (Source: Investment International.com)


The European Union is persisting in its attempts to convince Asian financial centres to cooperate on the issue of information-sharing for tax purposes, although the EU's pleas seemingly continue to fall upon deaf ears.

According to a report published in the online edition of London's Financial Times, Thomas Roe, the European Commission's envoy to Hong Kong and Macau, approached the two governments only two weeks after Hong Kong and Singapore refused to discuss the possibility of their inclusion in the EU Savings Tax Directive. (Source: TaxNews.com)


Britain looks set to become the first western country to introduce a regulatory regime to support the domestic issuance of sukuk so-called "Islamic bonds", or those which do not pay overt interest.

The move is intended to ensure that companies in London can issue sukuk as easily as traditional corporate bonds, boosting the City of London's role in this fast-growing sector of the global capital markets. They offer new investment options for Islamic investors. (Source: TaxNews.com)


BEIJING, Nov. 17 -- China's trade with members of Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) surged 21 per cent from last year to reach 835.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of this year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday. "Trade ties between China and APEC have become closer and closer in recent years", the ministry's spokesperson Chong Quan said at a press conference.

APEC has become a major trade partner for China, with trade between the two parties standing at 960.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2005. APEC also accounted for 71 per cent of contracted overseas investment in China in 2005. (Source: China Daily)


Value judgements about whether a company pays its “fair share” of tax are now made by a range of stakeholders, and boards of multi-national companies are recognising that corporate tax strategy is integral to business strategy, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The firm said its poll of tax directors indicated that tax had become a global reputational issue. Three quarters of the respondents among tax directors attending the firm’s Global Tax Symposium in Athens said they had – or were working towards – a clear tax strategy “communicated and agreed with all key stakeholders, namely CEO, CFO and the Board”. The detailed findings indicated that 41% of respondents actually had such a strategy in place. (Source: TaxationWeb.com)


As an integral part of China’s national economic reform and opening up as well as a natural outcome of China’s increasing integration into the world economy, the opening-up of the Chinese banking sector is instrumental in promoting the banking industry reform and thereby improving the competitiveness of China’s banking sector as a whole. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the banking sector opening up, and is committed to promoting the banking industry reform and opening up concurrently, and at the same time strengthening the supervision and improving the services quality. It is the government’s conviction that strengthened supervision and improved services will pave the way for further opening-up.

Today, China’s banking system and market are undergoing significant changes. In a bid to honoring China’s WTO commitments, further promoting banking sector opening up and supervision by law, and thereby ensuring safe and sound operations of the banking system, the Chinese government, after wide and numerous consultations, recently made amendments to the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Administration of Foreign-funded Financial Institutions (hereinafter referred to as the original regulation).【Source: http://www.cbrc.gov.cn】


Hong Kong share prices rebounded and closed at fresh high Thursday after going down Wednesday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index up 141.62 points, or 0.75 percent, to 18,952.86, again promoting the market's expectation of breaking 19,000 level.The Index opened 73.98 points higher at 18,885.22 and reached the highest at 18,993.40 during the trading, but easing a little at closing with a turnover of 47.11 billion HK dollars (6.06 billion U.S. dollars).

Market heavyweights China Mobile went up 1.38 percent to 66.10 HK dollars, while HSBC went up 0.20 percent to 151.20 HK dollars. Oil stocks performed well with PetroChina rising 1.58 percent to 8.99 HK dollars, while CNOOC up 2.47 percent to 6.64 HK dollars. (Source:Xinhua)


A local auto industry insider predicts that China's auto market will grow 13 percent growth next year, according to a report from the China's 5th Auto Industry Development Annual Summit in Nanjing.

According to the source, the country will produce approximately 7.8 million units next year, 900,000 more than will be produced this year, as China's macro-economy continues to develop rapidly and steadily and the external environment of the country's auto industry changes for the better.

The major reason for the rapid expansion of the passenger car market in China is that commercial car manufacturers are eager to enter the market, said An Qingheng. (Source: People’s Daily Online)


China banking shares in Hong Kong have been downgraded by UBS AG on concerns of high valuations, after gaining an average 65 percent this year. Bank of China Ltd, the nation's second-largest, was cut to "neutral" from "buy" with a 12-month target price of 4.22 HK dollars(54 U.S. cents), Hong Kong-based analyst Sally Ng has said in a report. China Merchants Bank Co and China Construction Bank were also downgraded to "neutral" from "buy."

Investors in the mainland's five banks that trade in Hong Kong are betting the nation's economic expansion will fuel loan growth and boost their profits. China overtook the United Kingdom last year to become the world's fourth-largest economy on a four-year investment boom that drove annual growth of 10 percent, double the global average, according to Bloomberg News.（Source: Shanghai Daily）


The chairman of China securities regulatory committee Shang Fulin said on November 24 when attending the 31th funds sector co-chairman conference that China should adapt the new trend of reform and development of capital market as soon as possible, make every efforts to optimize and strengthen funds sector, encourage the qualified fund management companies to launch shares option incentive trial, open special finance service, boost reform of fund sale rate, buoy innovation of closed fund products, standardize fund rating business, research derivatives as funds investing in stock-index futures, expand QDII trial and widen innovation as finance business range of fund management companies. 【Source: http://www.cbrc.gov.cn】


At the 14th International Conference of Banking Supervisors held in Mérida, Mexico, on 4–5 October 2006, banking supervisors from central banks and supervisory agencies in 120 countries endorsed the updated version of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision and its Methodology.

The Core Principles were originally written and agreed in 1997, being one part of the global response to strengthen the international financial system in the wake of the financial crises that occurred during the 1980's and 1990's. The Core Principles Methodology, which was developed in 1999, provides further details and guidance to assist in the interpretation and assessment of the 25 Core Principles. 【Source: http://www.cbrc.gov.cn】


China Midwest International Investment and Financing Peak Forum will be held in December in a bid to improve the investment environment and solve the financing problems of enterprises in the Central and West China regions.

The forum, held by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and sponsored jointly by the Boao Forum for Asia and China Economy Research Institute, is expected to be held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing from 18-20, December."Open, innovation and development" will be the theme of the forum, said Wang Jinzhen, Secretary General with the CCPIT.

According to the organizing committee, the topic will focus on explaining the financial policy, solving the problem of capital shortage in Central-West China regions development, guiding the capital to flow into the Central-West China regions, and helping the enterprises list on the stock market.Some of 500 people from the large state-owned enterprises, technology-intensive businesses and the government in the Central and West China regions are expected to attend the forum. (Source: Xinhua)