The EU has put pressure on offshore centres such as Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man to make sure that companies which are tax resident there have genuine local substance. Recently issued guidelines extend the scope of the EU’s Code of Conduct for Business Taxation with respect to companies located in zero tax territories. […]

For the first time, the Royal Court of Guernsey has had to deal with the consequences of Guernsey’s law enforcement, the Financial Intelligence Service (FIS), giving no consent to a proposed transaction under Guernsey’s anti-money laundering regime through a private law action being brought by a person claiming an asset against the firm holding it. […]

The revised document is driven by international standards issued in 2012 by the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) and recommendations from MONEYVAL’s mutual evaluation of Guernsey, published in 2016, for pan-island businesses, that have already implemented Jersey standards, will see few differences. These enhancements will create the basis for the new Handbook, and COMSURE recommend that […]

The SEC have Charged Two Former Och-Ziff Executives With FCPA Violations, and in doing so, it is claimed that Jersey, Guernsey and Maltese entities were used in Libyan government bribes. The following is shown in the SEC complaint:- Agent 1 also used portions of the $2.25 million installments to direct payments to Libyan Government Official […]

French prosecutors are calling for Royal Bank of Canada’s wealth-management subsidiary in the Bahamas to be hit with the maximum fine allowed – €187,500 ($270,619 Canadian) – for its alleged role in a sophisticated tax fraud and money-laundering scheme involving billionaire international art dealer Guy Wildenstein and other family members. Royal Bank of Canada Trust […]

On 16 September 2016 the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (“the Commission”) decided: to impose a financial penalty of £42,000 under Section 11D of the Financial Services Commission Law on Louvre; to impose financial penalties of £24,500 and £10,500 on Mr Gilligan and Mr Tracy respectively under Section 11D of the Financial Services Commission Law; to […]

In the widening investigations of Miami-based Providence Financial’s global investment schemes, investor losses are mounting on the other side of the pond, too, and findings about the company have been described as “a reeking pile of guano.” A judge for the Royal Court of Guernsey, a financial centre in the British Channel Islands, was told […]

In December 2014 Mr Merrien a director of a local insurance broker was fined £200,000 by the GFSC – the maximum financial punishment within their power. http://bit.ly/2cCYrI9 Since December 2014, Mr Merrien is now serving a custodial sentence. Furthermore, he has no material income and no substantial assets from which he would able to satisfy […]