Global Capital. Clear Intelligence.
Eye-popping revelations in the Panama Papers have fanned concerns that the so-called “tax havens” lie at the centre of a giant web of criminal conduct. Some, including UK Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn, have demanded that these offshore centres be “shut down”, and so disconnected from the global grid. The uproar invites examination of … Read more
UK takes two-faced approach to tax, new report suggests 3 November 2015 – The UK government has a ‘Janus-faced’ approach to tax, a new report suggests today: promising an increasingly intolerant approach to evasion and avoidance while being an aggressive participant in global tax competition and tolerating the UK tax havens which facilitate financial crime … Read more
[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”11″ size_format=”px”]by Simon Black[/typography] July 1, Singapore – Yesterday over coffee, a friend of mine leaked the news that JP Morgan’s private banking division here in Singapore is going to start charging negative interest rates. I almost fell out of my chair. He’s a successful hedge fund manager and one of their best customers. … Read more
Many of the world’s most secretive tax havens, ranging from Anguilla to Uruguay, are set to open their books to foreign tax by 2017. A year later, dozens more, including Belize, Hong Kong and Singapore, are set to follow suit. Among them is Switzerland, abandoning a tradition of secrecy that dates back at least as … Read more
When you think of Singapore do you think of a treacherous, disease-infested seaport where the downtrodden live in the streets and you can buy anything for the right price? Or do you think of a wealthy island nation with safe, clean streets and a prosperous and busy economy? About a century ago, Singapore was a … Read more
Usually banking goes hand in hand with offshore company formation. For legitimate tax minimisation purposes, it is customary to have a corporate bank account residing in a country different from the country of incorporation. This is commonly practised. For instance, a Singapore company is ideal for international business because company funds remitted outside of Singapore … Read more
When Beijing announced the 2.1 per cent revaluation of the renminbi late on July 21, traders at Deutsche Bank in Singapore had to rejig their plans for the evening to set-up the hedge against forex exposure. “It was chaotic because everyone had already left the office,” says Mirza Baig, currency strategist at Deutsche. “Traders had … Read more
WORLDWIDE THERE are over 70 tiny tax haven destinations that offer no-tax or low-tax status. Among these destinations different jurisdictions tend to be havens for different types of taxes, and for different categories of people or companies. India and Mauritius executed the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) in 1982 with the sole purpose of mutually … Read more
Regulatory changes are set to spur Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts (REITs offshore) to acquire overseas properties even as asset prices in the city state rise. Singapore, which has surpassed its traditional rival Hong Kong in developing listed property trusts as popular investment vehicles, is looking to change the rules to make it easier for … Read more