Introduction
Market trends and working with clients
Pandemic developments
Comment
Guernsey has introduced many international tax, regulatory and automatic exchange of information measures to ensure it remains one of the leading international finance centres. These range from base erosion and profit shifting, common reporting standards (CRS), the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and mandatory disclosure rules to tax information exchange agreements and economic substance. The G7 consideration of a global corporate minimum tax is the latest of these initiatives designed to ensure that multinational businesses are paying tax in the jurisdictions where the economic activity is carried out.
Guernsey has successfully navigated the international currents driving such initiatives, positioning itself as an early adopter of CRS and the FATCA, while also insisting on a level playing field before it will introduce public registers of beneficial ownership of companies. Its willingness to proactively adopt the necessary changes, coupled with its class-leading financial services industry, means that its provision of fiduciary services is flourishing. Private wealth advisers and fiduciaries in Guernsey have never been busier.
Market trends and working with clients
When working with clients to establish trust and other structures, the key drivers are now governance and succession, not tax planning. Clients come to Guernsey and establish structures with the fiduciary service providers based in Guernsey because of the jurisdiction's pedigree and reputation for transparency, international compliance and the rule of law. It is easy to overlook the very real fear that residents of some jurisdictions feel. The risk of governments expropriating assets, corruption and fraud means that being able to structure through a tax-neutral jurisdiction with a long-established legal system is an appealing prospect for clients from all over the world.
Rather than being put out of business by the increasing regulation to which international financial centres are subject, Guernsey has thrived and leveraged this to cement its position as a leading jurisdiction through which international families can structure their affairs. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the increase in regulation, to which Guernsey (like other international financial centres) has been subject, has attracted more clients to structure through Guernsey, because they have greater confidence that their affairs will be professionally managed, and that they will not face criticism for structuring through the jurisdiction. An example of this is the ever-growing trend for family offices to proactively seek out regulation as a means of demonstrating to tax authorities, regulators and the public that they have nothing to hide and are good corporate citizens. One of the metrics that family offices increasingly use when considering investments, or where to base their structures, are the environmental, social and governance aspects. Guernsey is well ahead of the curve. For example, the jurisdiction has recently updated its Code of Corporate Governance, now requiring boards to take into account climate change on their strategy and risk profile, and, where they judge it appropriate, make climate-change-related disclosures.
The global covid-19 pandemic has also demonstrated the resilience of the financial services sector in Guernsey, with fiduciary services providers, the regulator and the courts all adopting remote working practices. This has enabled business to continue as usual with little to no disruption for the end clients. Ironically, the shift away from travel and international mobility has made it easier for those in Guernsey to do business internationally, as video calls have replaced the necessity to meet clients face to face, at least for the time being.
The principal threat to trust structures based in Guernsey comes from jurisdictions that do not make use of trusts, nor properly understand their purpose or operation. Not only is there legislation, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (which has been transposed into Guernsey domestic law), but there are also elements of the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive that mandate the creation of public registers of the beneficial owners of trusts. The tension between global transparency initiatives and the rights of data subjects to privacy has not abated, and it remains to be seen how this will play out before the courts. Guernsey has deftly managed this process, adopting data protection legislation (as it should), while insisting upon a level playing field for the introduction of public registers.
For further information on this topic please contact Matt Guthrie at Ogier by telephone (+1 284 852 7300) or email ([email protected]). The Ogier website can be accessed at www.ogier.com.
This article was first published in the Nedbank Private Wealth Trust Matters Quarter Three 2021 Newsletter.