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Banks in European Tax Haven Principalities Under Renewed Attack as Recession Bites in Europe
By admin | February 13, 2009
A televised address last week by French President Nicolas Sarkozy relaunched attacks on the two tax haven principalities bordering France: Andorra and Monaco, as well as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Paris this week dispatched an envoy Christian Fremont to Andorra to put further pressure on the Andorran government, who have otherwise been distracted this week by record snowfalls, reports our man in Andorra.
Andorra is the only European country with bank secrecy written into its constitution, and has been blacklisted as “uncooperative” by other European authorities in the past, along with Liechtenstein, another mountainous tax haven principality.
Sarkozy announced that there would be no bonuses in 2009 at French banks that had received state aid but said he was “more shocked by the system of pay” for traders, whom he accused of speculation, than he was for bankers. “That’s what you have to forbid.” At the same time he said France would “review its relations” with neighboring financial havens such as Luxembourg, Andorra and Monaco. The Sarkozy announced that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel would be attending a summit in London in early April at which the matter would be discussed further.
Andorran leader Albert Pintat, however, reaffirmed his government’s commitment to co-operation and to working with other European states.
Tiny Andorra has never promoted itself as a tax haven but has established a substantial if low profile/discreet financial services and offshore banking industry over the last twenty or so years. Andorra is one of the few countries that still offered numbered accounts, although they are not anonymous and may not be used for conducting international bank transfers.
Andorran banks have, however, been quietly establishing contingency plans and planning international diversification and expansion ever since Andorra signed up for the European Union Savings Tax Directive. The largest Andorran Bank Credit Andorra for example last year received a full bank license for its new bank Credit Andorra (Panama) S.A. based in the Punta Pacifica district of Panama City, Panama. Other Andorran banks have established presence in tax-friendly jurisdictions such as the Bahamas and Uruguay, as well as in higher tax jurisdictions such as Mexico, Germany and Switzerland.
Want to know more about banking in Andorra, Liechtenstein etc? Further information on banking in Andorra and Switzerland, including direct contact addresses for opening accounts at Andorran bank head offices or their international private banking subsidiaries, may be found in Peter Macfarlane’s Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009, available free for download to members of The Q Wealth Report. The Q Wealth Report is a privately-published newsletter and membership club covering international living and investing, wealth management, asset protection and prosperity. Q Wealth has also announced a forthcoming new service to purchase physical gold bullion – at a discount!
Changes like this do demonstrate how important it is to keep up with the latest news and how it may impact your own private offshore banking arrangements. Peter Macfarlane will be giving a presentation on offshore banking at the “Meet the Men” offshore banking and wealth creation event in Bantry, Ireland, this March.
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Topics: Banks and banking offshore, Investing in precious metals | 1 Comment »
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February 13th, 2009 at 4:49 am
[...] bank sees Latin America as its best hope for expansion, given the common language and of course the threats to banking secrecy in its Andorra home market which may be scaring off its traditional European [...]