Category: Policy

‘Moving Money’ – the cost of more onerous AML procedures

I attended a lively presentation today on the paper Moving Money: International Flows, Taxes, and Money Laundering by Professors Richard Gordon and Andrew P. Morris. They basically argue that the move to more onerous anti-money laundering (AML) procedures and the move to automatic information exchange are both going to significantly increase transaction costs for everyone, legitimate… Read More ‘Moving Money’ – the cost of more onerous AML procedures

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Across the AML Divide: data sharing, de-risking and debate

George Hodgson

Having spent two days this week in Brussels at a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) private sector consultation forum discussing international anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, it was striking how two or three strands are now starting to dominate the debate. First is the growing divide between the big banks and what they… Read More Across the AML Divide: data sharing, de-risking and debate

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Anti-Money Laundering Vote is Disappointing for UK Families

George Hodgson

It was disappointing to hear of the outcome of last week’s vote in Brussels to introduce new requirements for family trusts to be disclosed on public registers. STEP supported the original draft legislation to enhance anti-money laundering procedures proposed by the EU Commission, but the proposal voted through by the Economic Affairs and the Justice… Read More Anti-Money Laundering Vote is Disappointing for UK Families

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It’s time to urgently think about UK trusts under the UK-US IGA

George Hodgson

STEP, alongside ICAEW and the Law Society, has recently published a guide to help trustees determine the status of UK trusts under the UK/US FATCA IGA. There is still a misconception on the part of some practitioners that only UK trusts with US connections or assets have to take note of FATCA. The reality is… Read More It’s time to urgently think about UK trusts under the UK-US IGA

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Confirmed and Unsaid: Looking at the 2014 Finance Bill

Wendy Walton

For private client/trust practitioners, the draft 2014 Finance Bill clauses published on 10 December 2013 contained no great surprises, and were mainly interesting for what they did not include. We will have to wait until early next year for details of the proposed capital gains tax (CGT) charge on the disposal of UK residential property… Read More Confirmed and Unsaid: Looking at the 2014 Finance Bill

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Preserving the confidential nature of trusts

George Hodgson

I welcomed David Cameron’s recent letter to the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rumpoy, rejecting calls to include trusts in the public registries of beneficial owners that the UK is proposing for companies. In the letter the Prime Minister noted the need to ‘recognise the important differences between companies and trusts’ in this… Read More Preserving the confidential nature of trusts

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G-20 Summit – global automatic tax information exchange by 2014?

For the press, the most eye-catching item on the agenda at the recent G-20 Finance Ministers Summit in St Petersburg was the (still rather vague) proposal to clamp down on corporate tax avoidance by tackling base erosion and profit shifting. For many STEP members, however, perhaps the most important item was the (very firm) instruction… Read More G-20 Summit – global automatic tax information exchange by 2014?

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