Readers of our STEP International News Digests showed a marked interest in the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS) during the fourth quarter of 2015. In case you missed them, here are the top ten items:

Barclays fined heavily for due diligence failure: The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Barclays Bank GBP72 million for failing to conduct proper due diligence checks on a group of ultra-high-net-worth clients who used the bank to move GBP1.88 billion of funds in 2011 –2012.

UK sets out beneficial ownership register demands on territories: The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has set out exactly what it requires of its Overseas Territories regarding transparency of company beneficial ownership. The demands stop short of a public central register, but do require that companies or their beneficial owners must not be alerted to the fact that an investigation is under way.

UK professional bodies challenge new benefits charges on non-doms: A group of professional associations have questioned the UK government’s plans for significant reform of the taxation of non-domiciled residents, in particular the ‘dry benefits’ charge to be imposed on settlors of offshore trusts.

CRS by jurisdiction: A jurisdiction-specific overview of the steps taken and choices made by jurisdictions in the context of implementing the Standard. The overview table below will show the current state of implementation of all committed jurisdictions in a single table. In case you would like to have more detailed information about the current state of implementation of the Standard in a particular jurisdiction, you will be able to access jurisdiction-specific legislation by clicking on the green tick relating to that jurisdiction.

BVI to require compulsory register of directors: British Virgin Islands premier Orlando Smith has announced some legislative amendments to improve the BVI authorities’ access to company beneficial ownership information. In a speech to the Assembly on Monday, Smith noted that the BVI, as well as other British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, are under pressure from London to introduce publicly available central registries of the beneficial owners of companies.

Overseas Territories head off UK’s demand for central registers: Britain’s Overseas Territories appear to have successfully resisted the UK’s demands that they set up central registers of company beneficial ownership, directly accessible by the UK authorities.

Have you sorted your LEIs?: The Financial Stability Board is probably the most powerful body nobody has heard of. It was set up by the G20 after the financial crisis and is drawn largely from central bankers. One of the issues it has focused on is effective monitoring of counterparty risk in financial markets.

CRS-related FAQs (pdf): The OECD has published a summary of 41 jurisdictions’ position regarding the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for automatic exchange of financial information. It has also issued an updated list of CRS-related frequently asked questions, including one concerning the time allowed to verify a self-certification.

Automatic Exchange: The Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) portal provides a comprehensive overview of the work the OECD and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in the area of the automatic exchange of information, in particular with respect to the Common Reporting Standard.

Russian Federal Tax Service publishes draft blacklist of states that do not exchange information with Russia (pdf): On October 23, 2015 the Russian Federal Tax Service published on the official web-site for information disclosure (regulation.gov.ru/) the first list of states and territories that do not exchange information for tax purposes with Russia or information exchange with which did not meet Russia’s expectations (the “blacklist”). The blacklist may become effective from January 1, 2016.

 

The STEP Industry News Digests provide a round-up of relevant industry news for trust and estate practitioners and other professionals in the wealth management sector. They provide brief summaries of topical news stories gathered from news providers internationally, providing a quick reference for busy practitioners to all the relevant news and issues. The News Digests also feature job listings from our recruitment site and list local STEP branch events and conferences. STEP’s digest services include twice weekly UK and Wealth Structuring (international) editions as well as a bi-weekly North America Digest focusing on the US, Canada and Mexico, and a Latin America Digest.

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