15.11.2008 The International Finance Corporation and the World Bank issued a new report. According to it, some of the small island countries are forming more opportunities for local businesses through regulatory reforms. This will boost competitiveness and set standards for good practice worldwide. The report pointed out that the easiest place in the world to do business is Singapore. Mauritius is a leading island state of Africa, while St. Lucia and Fiji are the leading ones in the Caribbean and the Pacific, respectively. The report stated that his year's top small-island reformer as well as a top-10 reformer globally is the Dominican Republic.
13.11.2008 According to Greenwich Alternative Investments, measured by both the Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index (GGHFI) and the Greenwich Composite Investable Index (GI2), hedge funds declined marginally if compared with global equity returns during October 2008 The GGHFI and GI2 indicated declines of -5.06% and -8.53% over the month, while global equity returns were indicated in the S&P 500 Total Return -16.79%, MSCI World Equity -19.05%, and FTSE 100 -10.71%. As to year-to-date, the GGHFI and the GI2 have lost -14.29% and -16.60%, respectively, while the S&P 500 Total Return, MSCI World Equity, and FTSE 100 Indices have lost -32.84%, -39.75%, and -32.21%, respectively.
03.11.2008 New bilateral agreements on exchange of information for tax purposes were signed by 16 offshore centres last week. These agreements were signed by OECD member countries and 3 offshore financial centres that had been affected by the recent banking crisis and intend to have more transparency in taxation and financial regulation.
The BVI signed bilateral tax information exchange agreements with Australia and the UK. Jersey signed agreements with Denmark, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden, while Guernsey signed bilateral pacts with the same Nordic economies as Jersey.
Signing the above-mentioned agreements ensures the financial centres that they are not included in any new "blacklists" to be published in 2009.
As a result, the number of arrangements put in place since 2000 when the OECD began its offshore crackdown has reached 44. The Isle of Man has 11 such agreements; Jersey has signed 10, Guernsey - 9, the Netherlands Antilles - 4 and the BVI - 3, Bermuda - also 3 bilateral pacts.
