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Panama' s Bank Secrecy Laws Face Pressure From OECD,
by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington
Friday, July 17, 2009
Following the latest G8 meeting, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which monitors regulations enacted by offshore financial jurisdictions, has reinforced the pressure on Panama to adopt international standards of tax transparency.
The impact of the proposed sanctions on Panama could be substantial, as the offshore financial industry is one of the country's economic strengths. An article in the local newspaper, La Prensa, suggested it could affect the USD268m annual revenue from ship and corporation registration and have a significant impact on the estimated USD7.9bn of cash deposited in Panama. La Prensa also suggested it could impact Panama's exports to European countries.
In another La Prensa article, Federico Humbert, president of Banco General, was quoted as saying that his bank had already adopted stricter measures to eliminate anonymous numbered client accounts and accounts protected in joint-stock companies. He said they would take steps to identify the client better in future. La Prensa also quoted Vice Minister of Economy, Frank de Lima, as saying that Panama might follow the route Switzerland has taken with the negotiation of treaties for a more transparent exchange of tax information.
Panama was among 35 jurisdictions identified by the OECD as far back as June 2000 as meeting the technical criteria for being a tax haven and threatened with listing as 'unco-operative'. This resulted in a written undertaking in April 2002 by the then minister of Economy and Finances, Norberto Delgado Duran to the OECD, that Panama would comply with OECD standards of tax transparency, in particular adopting the principles of exchange of tax information. Since then Panama has not negotiated a double taxation treaty, and has no tax information exchange agreements. Currently Panamanian law makes it a crime to release any bank information unless under court order and action by a conservative dominated National Assembly would be necessary to change that law.
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