Bermuda Government To Receive UK Report On Offshore Regulation

Stephen Breen, Royal Gazette

05 October 2000

This story is reproduced by kind permission of the Royal Gazette at http://www.accessbda.bm

Government will be presented with full details on Friday of the British Government report into the way the Island and other offshore territories regulate their financial institutions.

Finance Minister Eugene Cox flies to the Foreign Office in London for the meeting with other overseas territories where they will be presented with the report from international accounting firm KPMG.

In August, Finance Permanent Secretary Donald Scott said the KPMG report would be "generally positive". Last night he confirmed he had an indication of what would be in the report, but refused to disclose any details.

Last year, Britain offered the overseas territories full citizenship and the right to live and work within the United Kingdom and the European Union.

But in return, London wants to be sure the territories are not tax havens or money-laundering centres, and that they employ best financial practices in their offshore economies.

The KPMG review also looks at the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos.

KPMG have reviewed legislation covering banking, insurance, securities, companies and trusts as well as regulatory authorities. It also looked at arrangements for international co-operation and anti-money laundering.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) left Bermuda off its list of harmful tax havens. And the Island was listed as a co-operative jurisdiction in the Financial Action Task Force formed by the G7 group of industrialised nations.

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