FRENCH PRESIDENT SLAMS "TAX HAVENS"

The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has named eleven jurisdictions he labeled tax havens for their lack of transparency, and failure to maintain effective information exchange with other countries on tax evasion matters. In a speech delivered at the G20 Summit, he called upon all nations to ostracise these countries. He named the following:

(1)   Antigua
(2)   Barbados
(3)   Botswana
(4)   Brunei
(5)   Panama
(6)   The Seychelles
(7)   Trinidad & Tobago
(8)    Uruguay
(9)    Vanuatu
(10)  Switzerland
(11)  Uruguay

Compliance officers charged with the assessment of country risk at their financial institutions please note that all the remaining G20 countries have now ratified the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters*. The failure of the jurisdictions listed above to qualify may directly affect their country risk levels.
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*http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/127.htm