Update on the EU Anti-Money Laundering package: The Council and Parliament have reached a provisional agreement to enhance EU's anti-money laundering efforts. Highlights include exhaustive harmonization of rules, expanded scope covering crypto, luxury goods, and football sectors, enhanced due diligence, cash payment limits, transparent rules on beneficial ownership, and measures for high-risk third countries. The Anti-Money Laundering Directive ensures verification of central registers, accessibility, and inspections. Financial Intelligence Units gain more empowerment, and there's a focus on effective supervision and risk assessment. Next steps involve approval and formal adoption.
TovábbInteresting insights from the 2024 Knight Frank Wealth Report! The number of UHNWIs globally rose by an impressive 4.2% in 2023, reaching a total of 626,619. Regionally, North America leads the pack with a remarkable 7.2% increase, followed by the Middle East at 6.2%, and Africa at 3.8%. However, Latin America stands out as the only region experiencing a decline of -3.6% in its affluent population.
TovábbAccording to the updated regulation, investment advisors would be required to adhere to anti-money laundering (AML) protocols. This includes registered advisors with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or those designated as 'exempt reporting advisors.' They would be mandated to implement risk-based AML programs, report any suspicious activities to the Department of the Treasury, and maintain detailed records of client transactions. Additionally, they would be expected to meet all obligations akin to financial institutions governed by the Bank Secrecy Act.
TovábbThe US government's FinCEN has started accepting beneficial ownership reports under the Corporate Transparency Act 2021. Existing companies have one year, and new ones 90 days, to file with FinCEN, which will manage the database. Reports must include the name, date of birth, address, and identifying document number of each beneficial owner.
TovábbSingapore's government has taken a pre-emptive measure to dampen investment demand in the residential property market by doubling the additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) rates with immediate effect. The rate has been doubled from 30 to 60 per cent for foreigners, while Singapore citizens and permanent residents will see an increase of 3 to 5 per cent when purchasing their second and third residential properties. The new measures prioritise citizens' ability to acquire homes for owner-occupation, and transitional exemptions are available for buyers who signed options to purchase before the new rates come into force.
TovábbThe European Parliament has approved new rules on tracing crypto asset transfers, allowing transactions incorporating crypto assets to be traced in the same way as traditional money transfers. The legislation will extend the 'travel rule' to cover transfers of crypto assets, making it more difficult for criminals to evade sanctions. Service providers will have new obligations, such as recording customer information and detecting whether the originator's information is included in the transfer. The new rules will also create a uniform legal framework for crypto asset markets in the EU, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and enhancing consumer protection.
TovábbDigital platform operators to report seller information to EU tax authorities. Luxembourg's parliament has unanimously approved new draft legislation requiring digital platform operators to collect and provide information about sellers using their platforms for use by tax authorities across the EU. This legislation is based on the EU's DAC 7 directive, which promotes cooperation between tax authorities and extends tax transparency rules to platform operators.
The directive is aimed at shell companies that are used by individuals or companies for tax avoidance purposes, registered in no- or low-tax jurisdictions or jurisdictions where taxes can easily be circumvented. Its measures fall into two categories: a set of indicators for deciding whether a given entity is a shell and a set of sanctions to be applied to companies deemed to be shells.
TovábbCelebrating its 30th birthday in 2021, STEP looked back on how far the trust and estate industry has come since 1991. As rapidly as STEP has grown, so too have regulatory requirements and developments in estate‑planning vehicles in jurisdictions across the globe. With that in mind, STEP thought a retrospective of selected developments in trust legislation, regulation and case law across the past 30 years would be of value to their readership. You can download “THREE DECADES OF CHANGE” from STEP’s homepage.
TovábbThe Colombian legislature has approved the government's tax reform Bill creating a permanent equity tax to be levied annually on individuals with a net worth above about USD611,000.
TovábbThe OECD has delivered a new global tax transparency framework to provide for the reporting and exchange of information with respect to crypto-assets.
TovábbHong Kong's government has gazetted the most significant change in its tax laws in over four decades, imposing profits tax on multinational enterprises' foreign-sourced income that is currently exempt.
TovábbAs of January 1, 2024, certain U.S. and foreign entities registered to do business in the US must submit specific information to FinCEN about their beneficial owners.
TovábbSwitzerland's Federal Department of Finance has been directed to draft a Bill introducing a central register of legal entities' beneficial owners by the end of June 2023. The new central register will be accessible to the relevant public authorities, but not to the general public.
TovábbHong Kong has lost out to Singapore in a global ranking list of world financial centres where New York and London maintained their first and second positions. Singapore leapt three places to third in the twice-a-year Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) which assesses 119 cities around the world, published on 22 September.
TovábbHM Treasury's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation is now considering whether to issue a general licence enabling sanctioned persons to pay 'reasonable' legal fees without having to apply for an individual licence, according to law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. It has published a detailed examination of the effect of UK sanctions against Russian persons in English court proceedings, including the recent cases of Navigator Equities v Deripaska (2022 EWHC 1637 Comm) and Maroil v Cally (2022 EWHC 1201 Comm). In both cases, the England and Wales High Court stopped the hearings because the freezing of the defendants' assets prevented them from getting a fair hearing, although UK sanctions do not explicitly prohibit designated persons from being legally represented.
Shakira's appeal in a Spain tax fraud case was dismissed on 26 May this year, having been initially charged in 2018 with failing to pay €14.5m on income earned between 2012 and 2014. A trial date has not yet been set.
TovábbUS Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore.,released the findings of a year-long investigation into the largest alleged individual tax evasion scheme in U.S. history. The investigation uncovered the “shell bank” loophole in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a loophole that allows banks offshore to accept funds from U.S. persons without reporting them to the IRS.
TovábbFormer Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been ordered by Malaysia's top court to begin a 12-year prison sentence for his role in the 1MDB scandal. Razak had appealed to the Federal Court following a conviction in a lower court, where he was found guilty of, among others, abuse of power and money laundering relating to receiving some RM42m, or about $10m, from SRC International, a company linked to the sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad. In addition to the prison sentence, the lower court had ordered Razak pay a fine of some RM210m.
TovábbThe US Securities and Exchange Commission has awarded more than $16m to two whistleblowers who provided information and assistance in a successful SEC enforcement action.
TovábbThe Bank of England has raised interest rates by 0.5%, its largest hike since 1995, as it forecast a recession in the UK by the end of this year.
TovábbThe Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has issued new risk-based guidance based on the results of its recent consultation on anti-money laundering (AML) in the real estate sector.
TovábbSTEP has undertaken a research project, kindly sponsored by TMF Group, to gather insight about the families that STEP members advise and what their wealth and succession planning needs are. It identifies the key complexities and constraints currently facing families and their advisors.
TovábbGermany's Federal Ministry of Finance has issued draft legislation to abolish the Section 49 provision in the Income Tax Act (the Act) that allows the taxation of royalty income and capital gains on transactions between non-residents outside of Germany.
TovábbSTEP and the Microsoft-funded Cloud Legal Project at Queen Mary University of London have collaborated on a joint research project into estate practitioner views on, and experiences with, digital assets.
TovábbIn this new publication, authors Philip Marcovici, Kenneth T Goh and Iraj Ispahani write about how circular economy principles to family business and wealth stewardship can provide a new approach to governance frameworks for wealth- and business-owning families.
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