Puerto Rico Aims To Become International Finance Centre

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, New York

24 October 2001

Luis Oscar Berrios, deputy commissioner from Puerto Rico's Office of the Commission for Financial Institutions (OCIF), has announced that the government and the OCIF are joining forces to turn Puerto Rico into a reputable low cost international financial center.

Snr. Berrios has confirmed that the OCIF is talking to international and Latin American financial institutions to persuade them to increase the amount of offshore banks to 'as many as possible in the shortest time possible.' Currently there are around 40 offshore banks on the Island.

He told BNamericas.com that there are six requests in the pipeline to establish offshore banks, most of which are either local or Latin American banks. Just last week the OFIC granted Spanish bank, Santander Central Hispano, a licence to operate its third offshore bank on the Island and it is expected that Swiss-based UBS PaineWebber Trust Company will also establish an offshore banking infrastructure in Puerto Rico in the very near future.

Puerto Rico is promoting itself as an ideal offshore financial centre for two reasons: its low costs and its physical proximity to the US and Latin America. Snr. Berrios said: 'In other financial centers you usually end up paying some kind of tax, but here you don't have to pay anything - absolutely nothing.'

In consideration of the current political climate in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks with issues raised over banking secrecy and money laundering activities, Puerto Rico is aiming to offer itself as a 'clean' banking alternative to some other tax havens that have come under scrutiny in the recent past.

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