Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

Swissinfo has reported that Aid organisations from countries currently defending banking secrecy laws said their governments need to change course in the interest of helping developing nations.
With a meeting in Berlin among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) unfolding later this month, aid organisations from Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria united last Tuesday to argue the benefits behind an automatic exchange of banking data.
They said that wealthier nations should provide immediate administrative assistance to developing countries in tax matters by creating a type of most-favoured-nation status for them.
Peter Niggli, director of Alliance Sud, said any concessions made on granting administrative assistance in tax cases between the United States and the European Union should extend to all countries.
Developing countries should also step up their fight against tax evasion, the agencies said, while multinational corporations should provide a country-by-country breakdown of their balance sheets.

The Cercle de Coopération, the Luxembourg representative, underlined that the OECD definition of tax havens is not limited to jurisdictions with no or low taxes.

 

 

 

 

Read Press documentation (in French)

Today and tomorrow is taking place in Luxembourg the 11th Annual Fund Compliance Conference on the topic : The Responsibility of The Depositary Bank A Detailed Regulatory and Business Practice Overview

In the Ad, it is said that the European Commission will highlight the Commission Approach with regards to “Depositary Responsibilities”.

The conference will give a detailed regulatory and business practice overview of “The Responsibility of The Depositary Bank” and will provide a lively debate on how to build on shared and mutually reinforcing responsibilities The Role, Responsibility and Liability of The Depositary Function and its Delegation.

Indeed, there are differences in approaching depositary duties across Europe and consequences from the financial crisis have pledged for a strengthening of the functioning of the financial markets.

A panel session will give the views from Fund Board Members on their role and responsibility vis à vis a substantive oversight of the fund that includes the supervision of the depositary duties.

Finally the conference will assess whether UCITS IV generation is addressing adequately depositary duties and how the various scenarios of the Management Company Passport will impact the functioning of the depositary duties.

It is very amazing that the conference on a sensitive topic for Luxembourg is like boycotted by the Luxembourg financial community. It is a consent that the legal and regulatory framework on the depositary is in question in Luxembourg.

Such behaviour is worrying for investors.

 

 

A Google search shows that there is only one article about the conference for site:lu:

The 11th Annual Fund Compliance Conference on the topic : The Responsibility of The Depositary Bank A Detailed Regulatory and Business Practice Overview is not promoted by the ALFI, the official representative body for the Luxembourg investment fund industry. Strange.

The 11th Annual Fund Compliance Conference on the topic : The Responsibility of The Depositary Bank A Detailed Regulatory and Business Practice Overview is not promoted by Luxembourg For Finance, the agency for the development of the financial sector. Strange.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 11th Annual Fund Compliance Conference on the topic : The Responsibility of The Depositary Bank A Detailed Regulatory and Business Practice Overview  is not promoted by the ABBL, the Luxembourg Bankers' Association. Strange.

In a recent interview, Jean Meyer stated that "le Luxembourg doit sortir de cette image de paradis fiscal, de refuge pour patrimoines non déclarés, qui ne correspond plus à son identité" (free transmation : Luxembourg must leave this image of tax haven, of refuge for not declared assets, which does not correspond anymore to its identity)

This sentence wants a couple of comments.

It is the first time that a Luxembourg powerhouse admits that Luxembourg's identity was a tax haven and a place for not declared assets but it is no longer the case: it not correspond anymore to its identity

I can consider from a semantic point of view that Mr Meyer is officially repudiating what stated Jean Jacques Rommes in February 2009 or Lucien Thiel in February 2008.

He takes into account the commitments to counter tax evasion.