Guernsey Defends Savings Tax Directive Stance

by Mark Oliphant, Guernsey Press And Star

27 October 2003

This story is reproduced by kind permission of This Is Guernsey at http://www.thisisguernsey.com

The island’s finance sector has strongly defended its management of the implications of the EU savings tax directive.

At a conference in Switzerland, Guernsey was criticised by Professor Stefan Frommel, of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London, for not doing enough to avoid following the EU savings tax directive.

But Nerine Trust Company Ltd chairman Keith Corbin defended the decision to adopt a retention tax under the directive.

‘The conference gave us the opportunity to clarify a number of issues, including our position on the EU savings tax directive,’ said Mr Corbin, who has 30 years of experience in the trust industry in Guernsey.

‘Although there are close business links between Switzerland and Guernsey, there are often misunderstandings in Switzerland on our international position on a whole range of matters.’

The Guernsey Promotional Agency sponsored the Academy and Finance Conference in Geneva, which was organised by the Swiss finance journal, L’Agefi.

Agency chief executive John Bridle opened the conference, which was attended by a wide range of Swiss institutions and intermediaries. He reaffirmed Guernsey’s intention to maintain its position among the premier international finance centres, to defend its reputation as a secure and stable jurisdiction and to keep its competitive position by building on its existing range of services and products.

Guernsey-based managing director of Bank Julius Baer Paul Matthews also went.

‘People attending were very impressed with the way in which Keith clarified Guernsey’s position, and the Swiss position by association. We [the Guernsey financial community] could not have asked for more,’ he said.

‘The overriding thing that came across to people I spoke to was how professional Guernsey is. Even though I wasn’t a speaker, I did find myself in the position of answering a lot of questions, which demonstrated the interest and regard in which other financial centres hold Guernsey.’

A few days earlier, Guernsey’s captive insurance sector was also promoted by the agency at the Federation of European Risk ManAgers exhibition and conference in Rome.

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