FRANCE and Germany will today lead the fight against tax havens as the G20 meets in London.
Both nations are unhappy that propositions on the table do not go far enough and want nations to agree on measures to tighten financial regulation and crackdown on tax havens instead of just renewing promises to do so.
But other countries look likely to resist calls for a blacklist of uncooperative jurisdictions.
Officials in Guernsey appear confident the island will avoid being tarnished as an uncooperative jurisdiction after it reached recognised international standards, having signed 13 tax information exchange agreements.
Guernsey International Business Association chairman Steve Le Page (pictured) said that inevitably the regulatory systems that failed, particularly in the USA and the UK, had come under intense scrutiny and a new regulatory regime would emerge.
‘In that regard, Giba remains optimistic that Guernsey will fare well because as a small offshore financial centre our standards have of necessity had to match or be higher than our onshore peers,’ he said.
‘In addition, from the recent interviews of G20 leaders and finance ministers it would appear, as we have been saying all along, that sense is beginning to prevail in the debate on “tax havens”. As we anticipated, this will focus on cooperative versus non-cooperative jurisdictions whether onshore or offshore and Giba has little doubt that Guernsey will be categorised as a cooperative jurisdiction.’
That should bode well for the future of Guernsey as a respected international financial centre, he added.
At a press conference yesterday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said new financial regulation was a ‘non-negotiable goal’.
He stood side by side with German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Earlier, US president Barack Obama played down the emergence of divisions ahead of the summit.
He was speaking at a press conference with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Both believed the G20 was ‘within a few hours’ of agreeing a global deal for economic recovery.
‘The separation between various parties involved has been vastly overstated,’ said the US president. ‘All of us here in London have a responsibility to act with a sense of urgency. Make no mistake: we are facing the most severe economic crisis since World War Two.’
As the world leaders were setting the scene for today’s key discussions, some protesters clashed with riot police. Demonstrators stormed a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, smashing windows and tearing out computers.
The faltering bank has been the focus of anger after its former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin walked away with a £700,000-a-year pension.
World News Page 18
Article posted on 2nd April, 2009 - 2.30pm
2 Article Comments
Mr Le Page, we’ve helped facilitate a huge number of the strucures that have failed which are deliberately set up here because we don’t bother to regulate them in terms of their quasi-banking function. Something you seem to not be aware of!
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I find it fascinating that France and Germany lead this mission against ‘tax havens’, when France is largely responsible for the tax loopholes in Monaco, and Germany is responsible for supporting the tax loopholes in Luxembourg and Lichenstein.
And the worst offender for concealing “grey” money is clearly Switzerland, which does not get a mention in all this. Delaware in the US is another major offender and even in the UK, you can still create a trust to hide your assets and there is no mandatory regulation of the trustee.
Attacking the offshore islands in the Channel and the Carribean is simply a diversion from forcing the G20 countries to clean up their own backyards first and it is about time that the offshore jurisdictions blacklisted them all!!
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