Technology may very well be the bane of a busy practitioner’s existence. It makes us all too accessible. It deprives us of the solitude we all need to think and recharge. It makes available too much information. Then we have to deal with the follow-up surveys and questionnaires! Fortunately, the editors of Trust Quarterly Review… Read More Why it pays to keep an eye on developments in foreign jurisdictions
On Monday STEP announced that nominations for the 2014/15 Private Client Awards (PCA) had opened. Now in their ninth year, the PCAs are our opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the professional achievements of our peers in private client practice, be they solicitors, attorneys, accountant, barristers, bankers, family business consultants, trust managers or financial advisors. This… Read More Time to acknowledge excellence
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
Last week, as part of the STEP 2021 consultation process, I had the pleasure of visiting STEP’s Bermuda branch to meet with members, the branch committee and employers. During this time we discussed the major issues in the next STEP business plan, debated STEP’s priorities for the future, and discussed the trust and estate industry… Read More Taking stock of STEP Bermuda
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
This week I sent out a letter welcoming everyone back for another busy year in 2014. Looking back at 2013, I noted that my role was marked by three Cs: Communication – Not just telling our membership about our mission and values but taking on board their own visions for the future of STEP Connections… Read More Happy New Year from Hélène Anne Lewis, Chair, STEP Worldwide
As a professional body, STEP seeks to promote the highest standards of practice amongst its members. In an increasingly regulated world, it has long seemed to me odd that the preparation of the most sensitive document most people will ever sign, their will, is almost entirely unregulated in England & Wales. Anyone can do it,… Read More Will Code Welcome News
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
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
In recent years, we have seen almost daily developments chipping away at long-established boundaries of financial privacy. Before the global recession gave this process real impetus, who would have thought that offshore financial centres would sign automatic exchange of information agreements? The UK’s proposed public registry of company beneficial ownership may prove to be a… Read More Is financial privacy coming to an end?
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