CARIBBEAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE

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CARIBBEAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE

• BRITISH COLONIAL HILTON HOTEL
• NASSAU
• 24-25 SEPTEMBER 1998

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WHEN OFFSHORE FAILSBACKING OUT

• MR E L BENDELOW
• BASEL TRUST CORPORATION
• (CHANNEL ISLANDS) LIMITED

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THE OFFSHORE WORLD

• Walter Diamonds estimates
• Half the Worlds financial transactions take
  place offshore annually
  
• Estimated US 5 trillion in assets
• Activity - first captive insurance company formed
  in 1927 - not a new development

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MAIN TRENDS INFLUENCING FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

• Sociological factors
• Economic activity
• Technical innovation
• Political risks

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PREDICTED OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENTS

• A super league of offshore centres will develop
  which provide services on a 24 hour basis on a
  multi-cultural, multi-lingual format
  
• Competition between centres will increase
  dramatically with newer centres producing a large
  amount of bespoke legislation
  
• Physical proximity to established capital centres
  no longer relevant due to dramatic changes in
  information technology

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PREDICTED OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENTS (CONTD)

• Pressure on secrecy based centres will
  dramatically increase
  
• Large new markets for offshore services opening
  up in Central Europe, Latin America, and the
  Pacific Rim

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LIKELY PRODUCTSDEVELOPED ECONOMIES

• Tax neutral structures aimed at wealth
  preservation
  
• Non-trust based structures to facilitate
  international estate planning for civil law
  clients
  
• Novel legislative products produced to enable
  specific taxation strategies to be facilitated

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PARTIALLY DEVELOPED ECONOMIES

• Multi-lingual legal structures will be produced,
  eg Nieu and Western Samoan legislation
  
• Re-launching of existing products to facilitate
  trade, eg UK Partnerships and Cypriot
  Dual-Resident Trading Companies

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LESS DEVELOPED ECONOMIES

• Structures aimed at facilitation and management
  of political risks, eg Indonesia and Thailand
  
• Structures aimed at mitigating tax on inward
  investments into the developed world
  
• Structures aimed at mitigating personal tax on
  migration to developed economies

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WEALTH PROTECTION STRUCTURES

• There are a number of asset protection strategies
  available to protect from adverse litigation
  
• Gift giving, insurance structures, pension
  structures, partnership structures, trustee
  structures
  
• Various types of asset protection trust
  legislation

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WEALTH PROTECTION STRUCTURES (CONTD)

• Trial de novo
• Statutory time limits
• Family trust

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INTERNATIONAL TRADE FACILITATION STRUCTURES

• UK Partnerships
• Non-disclosed Agency Companies
• Limited Liability Companies
• Dual-resident Companies
• IBC Branches

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POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RISK STRUCTURES

• Private Trust Companies and Blind Trusts
• Foundations (in Liechtenstein and Panama)
• Stiftungs (in Liechtenstein)
• Hybrid Companies
• Bearer Share Companies

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INTERNATIONAL ESTATE PLANNING VEHICLES FOR CIVIL
LAW CLIENTS

• Trusts
• Joint Shareholder Companies
• Special Purpose Hybrid Companies
• Limited Partnerships

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NEW USES FOR OLD STRUCTURES

• Dual Resident Companies
• Insurance Products
• LLC (Limited Liability Companies)
• UK Partnerships

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UK GENERAL PARTNERSHIPTax Haven Co
UK Co

• 1 General Partnership
• 2 Partnership Agreement
• 3 UK Co is a minority partner
• 4 UK Co carries out paperwork
• 5 Tax Haven Co carries out trading
• 6 UK Co receives 5-10 of Partnership profits
• 7 UK Co is taxed in normal way on its share of
  profits
  
• 8 Global Ruling obtained

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OFFSHORE WORLDCONCLUSION

• The offshore world as a sub-set of world economy
  is extremely large
  
• The business sector is extremely well established
  and has been in existence for over 70 years
  
• All major financial institutions have significant
  presence offshore
  
• The purpose of offshore finance centres is to
  enable the arbitrage of legal systems

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OFFSHORE WORLDCONCLUSION (CONTD)

• The first division of offshore finance centres is
  highly regulated and is certainly not
  contaminated with criminal funds
  
• The offshore world is a vital element in the
  worlds continued economic growth and
  integration, by enabling entrepreneurs and the
  owners of wealth generally to maximise their
  returns and minimise their costs

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OFFSHORE WORLDCONCLUSION (CONTD)

• The technological changes promised in the new
  millennium are going to provide even more
  enhanced opportunities for both onshore and
  offshore practitioners to make more use of
  offshore finance centres to the great benefit of
  their clients

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OFFSHORE WORLD

• The End