Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

Kang Beng Hoe wrote today an interesting analysis. He is is an executive director of Taxand Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a member firm of Taxand, the first global organisation of independent tax firms.

In his opinion the question, which arises, is whether Article 26 in its revised form with paragraph 5 is incompatible with banking secrecy? The OECD's view is that meeting the standard of Article 26 involves only limited exceptions of bank secrecy rules. These should not undermine the overall credibility of such rules in protecting the privacy of bank customers.

He observes that Article 26 of the US Model is wider than that of the OECD as it says in its official commentary that: “The information to be exchanged is that which may be relevant for carrying out the provision of the Convention or the domestic laws of the United States or of the other contracting state concerning taxes of every kind applied at the national level.”

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