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維京群島遭遇“反洗錢”壓力
被稱作“避稅天堂”的加勒比海英屬維京群島(British Virgin Islands，簡稱BVI)正面臨來自香港的反洗錢運動壓力。長期以來，維京群島一直對試圖創辦離岸公司的中國企業有著很大吸引力。
那些參與過BVI公司注冊業務的律師表示，過去兩年，BVI的公司很難在香港的匯豐銀行(HSBC)和渣打銀行(Standard Chartered)創建銀行賬戶。這兩家國際銀行在香港都占有極大市場份額。
BVI負責亞洲事務的駐港辦事處主任埃利塞•多諾萬(Elise Donovan)表示：“一方面合規要求越來越高，另一方面銀行自身的風險厭惡傾向也越來越強。因此，創建銀行賬戶變得越來越難。”
為打擊避稅和對恐怖活動的資金支持，歐美正在加大反洗錢力度。此舉迫使銀行加強合規方面的要求。本周末，二十國集團(G20)的財長將在凱恩斯會晤，預計他們將會討論應對避稅問題的改革措施。
自2012年被罰款以來，匯豐銀行變得愈發小心。該行當年曾因經手販毒資金和允許資金流過受制裁國家，被處以19億美元罰款。渣打銀行則在上個月與美國監管機構達成協議，同意暫停為香港高風險客戶的結算服務。
康德明律師事務所(Conyers Dill & Pearman)合伙人克里斯托弗•比克利(Christopher Bickley)表示，開設BVI賬戶正因銀行業的舉措而變得“痛苦不堪”，這促使企業轉而在薩摩亞群島和塞舌爾群島開辦公司。耿西金融島(Guernsey Finance)首席執行官費奧納•勒普瓦德萬(Fiona Le Poidevin)表示，匯豐銀行拒絕創建BVI賬戶“能說明很多問題”。
過去三十多年來，BVI一直吸引著許多設立在香港的中國企業。在英國準備于1997年將香港歸還中國之際，許多企業急于在BVI設立離岸公司，以保護它們的資產。BVI政府的收入中，60%來自金融服務，其中近一半的收入來自以中國企業為主導的亞洲公司。
在2007年全球金融危機以前，BVI的公司數目達到約75萬家，而該群島居民只有2.3萬人，平均每人34家公司。而在2007年，這一數字大幅減少至40.4萬家，此后又在2011年回升到危機后的頂點。不過，自那以來，在BVI開辦公司的數目每年都在下降。
邁克爾•加吉耶(Michael Gagie)是邁普達律師事務所(Maples and Calder)合伙人，熟知BVI和開曼群島法律。他說，香港銀行業監管機構香港金融管理局(Hong Kong Monetary Authority)出臺的新準則導致合規標準進一步提高，這在香港曾引發“小范圍震蕩”。
匯豐和渣打拒絕置評BVI問題。匯豐銀行只是表示，該行“正在采取最高或最為有效的金融犯罪監控手段，并在所有我們運營業務的地方都采用了這些手段”。而渣打銀行則表示“我們確實在繼續從更普遍意義上加強監控”。
香港金管局新的反洗錢規定是2012年設立的。不過該機構表示，“并未要求銀行不要為在特定司法管轄區——比如BVI或開曼群島——駐留、創辦或開展交易的企業創建賬戶。”
去年，BVI曾由于大規模泄露投資者姓名而遭遇重大打擊，這一事件嚴重傷害了該群島在保密方面的聲譽。此外，法國政府也由于BVI與監管機構分享信息太過遲緩，將該群島列入黑名單。對此，多諾萬表示，BVI已采取了正確措施，希望能盡快從黑名單上除名。
就在BVI努力應對重重障礙之際，BVI總理奧蘭多•史密斯(Orlando Smith)上周一直在香港和中國內地為該群島招攬生意。他在一次訪談中表示，該地區目前正面臨極大挑戰，這其中既包括泄密事件，也包括監管加強之類的全行業問題。“不過，事實是我們的金融服務依然很強。來自金融服務的收入繼續保持增長。”
Offshore Incorporations亞洲管理主任喬納森•克利夫頓(Jonathon Clifton)表示，由于經濟和政治壓力，過去兩年整個行業的處境都“十分艱難”。由于銀行賬戶問題，BVI受到的打擊最大。他表示BVI在中國企業中的市場份額已經從2012年的80%，跌至60%到65%。
克利夫頓表示，去年全球新組建公司中，塞舌爾群島占了20747家，年度漲幅為24%。而在薩摩亞群島的新注冊公司數則增長了38%，達到5648家。
多名律師表示，匯豐銀行并未解釋為何BVI面臨的壓力比塞舌爾群島或薩摩亞群島等地區大。對此，克利夫頓表示，該地區會成為眾矢之的，部分原因是該地區出現在所謂“可疑交易報告”中的次數太多，于是該地區因此成為“自身成功的犧牲品”。
一位知情人士表示，匯豐銀行員工曾解釋說，匯豐的風險體系在全球整合過程中存在一定問題，這導致涉及多個司法管轄區的BVI交易多次陷入停滯。
不過，匯豐銀行否認存在這種問題。該行表示該行擁有“成熟的全球風險標準，該標準的制定依照了一套最為有效的最高金融犯罪合規標準，這些合規標準由所有匯豐有運營業務的司法管轄區提供。目前，匯豐正在全球統一推行這套標準。”（更多全球資訊請關注中國進出口網）
British Virgin Islands suffers amid push against money laundering
The British Virgin Islands has long attracted Chinese companies looking to incorporate offshore but the Caribbean haven is facing pressure in Hong Kong from a global push to tackle money laundering.
HSBC and Standard Chartered, two international banks with a significant Hong Kong presence, have made it very difficult for BVI companies to open bank accounts in the Chinese territory over the past two years, according to lawyers involved in setting up companies in the offshore financial centre.
“You are seeing stronger compliance and the banks themselves are being more risk-averse so they are making it harder to open accounts,” said Elise Donovan, head of the BVI office in Hong Kong responsible for Asia.
Europe and the US are stepping up anti-money laundering measures to crack down on tax evasion and terrorism funding, which is forcing banks to strengthen compliance. G20 finance ministers are expected to discuss reforms to tackle tax avoidance when they meet in Cairns this weekend.
HSBC has become more cautious since 2012 when it paid $1.9bn in fines for processing drug-trafficking money and sending funds through countriesfacing sanctions. Last month Standard Chartered agreed to suspend clearing services for high-risk clients in Hong Kong in a deal with US regulators.
Christopher Bickley, a partner at the law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman, said banks were now making it “torturous” to open BVI accounts, spurring companies to incorporate in Samoa and the Seychelles. Fiona Le Poidevin, chief executive of Guernsey Finance which promotes the island as a financial centre, said it was “quite a telling story” that HSBC was refusing to open BVI accounts.
The BVI has been favoured by Chinese companies in Hong Kong for more than three decades. As the UK prepared to hand Hong Kong back to China in 1997, companies rushed to create offshore vehicles in the jurisdiction to protect their assets. Sixty per cent of the BVI’s government revenue comes from financial services, with Asia – predominantly Chinese companies – accounting for just under half of that.
Prior to the 2007 global financial crisis, BVI boasted roughly 750,000 companies – or 34 incorporations for each of its 23,000 residents. Incorporations plummeted to 404,000 in 2007 before recovering to reach a post-crisis peak in 2011, but they have fallen each year since.
Michael Gagie, a partner at Maples and Calder which specialises in BVI and Cayman Islands law, said there had been “a little bit of a shake-up” in Hong Kong following new guidelines from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the banking regulator, that have resulted in tougher compliance standards.
HSBC and Standard Chartered declined to comment on the BVI issue. HSBC would only say that it was “adopting the highest or most effective financial crime controls and deploying them everywher we operate”, while Standard Chartered said “we do continue to tighten controls more generally”.
HKMA introduced new anti-money laundering guidelines in 2012 but said it had “not asked banks not to open accounts for corporate customers that are domiciled, incorporated or trade in a particular jurisdiction, such as the British Virgin Islands or Cayman Islands”.
The BVI suffered a blow last year following a mass leak of investor names that hit its reputation for confidentiality. France also put the BVI on a black list for sharing information with regulators too slowly. Ms Donovan said the BVI had taken corrective measures and hoped to come off the list soon.
As the BVI deals with the hurdles, Orlando Smith, BVI premier, spent last week in Hong Kong and China to drum up business. In an interview he said the jurisdiction faced several challenges, including the leaks case, and industry-wide issues such as tougher regulation. “But the reality is that our financial services remains strong. Our revenue from this continues to grow.”
Jonathon Clifton, Asia managing director at Offshore Incorporations, said the past two years had been “pretty tough” for the industry due to economic and political pressures, but that the BVI had suffered most because of the bank account issue. He said the BVI’s share of the market for Chinese incorporations had fallen from 80 per cent to 60-65 per cent since 2012.
The Seychelles gained 20,747 new incorporations from around the world last year, an annual rise of 24 per cent, said Mr Clifton. New registrations in Samoa rose 38 per cent to 5,648.
Lawyers said HSBC had not explained why BVI was coming under more pressure than places such as the Seychelles and Samoa. Mr Clifton said it was targeting the territory partly because of the number of times it appeared on so-called “suspicious transaction reports”, and that the BVI was therefore “a victim of its own success”.
One person familiar with the issue said HSBC staff had explained that there were some problems integrating its risk systems globally, which meant that one BVI transaction involving multiple jurisdictions could end up being flagged several times.
HSBC denied having any such problems. It said it had “developed global standards shaped by the highest or most effective standards of financial crime compliance available in any jurisdiction wher HSBC operates and are now in the process of deploying these globally on a consistent basis”.
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HSBC and Standard Chartered, two international banks with a significant Hong Kong presence, have made it very difficult for BVI companies to open bank accounts in the Chinese territory over the past two years, according to lawyers involved in setting up companies in the offshore financial centre.
“You are seeing stronger compliance and the banks themselves are being more risk-averse so they are making it harder to open accounts,” said Elise Donovan, head of the BVI office in Hong Kong responsible for Asia.
Europe and the US are stepping up anti-money laundering measures to crack down on tax evasion and terrorism funding, which is forcing banks to strengthen compliance. G20 finance ministers are expected to discuss reforms to tackle tax avoidance when they meet in Cairns this weekend.
HSBC has become more cautious since 2012 when it paid $1.9bn in fines for processing drug-trafficking money and sending funds through countriesfacing sanctions. Last month Standard Chartered agreed to suspend clearing services for high-risk clients in Hong Kong in a deal with US regulators.
Christopher Bickley, a partner at the law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman, said banks were now making it “torturous” to open BVI accounts, spurring companies to incorporate in Samoa and the Seychelles. Fiona Le Poidevin, chief executive of Guernsey Finance which promotes the island as a financial centre, said it was “quite a telling story” that HSBC was refusing to open BVI accounts.
The BVI has been favoured by Chinese companies in Hong Kong for more than three decades. As the UK prepared to hand Hong Kong back to China in 1997, companies rushed to create offshore vehicles in the jurisdiction to protect their assets. Sixty per cent of the BVI’s government revenue comes from financial services, with Asia – predominantly Chinese companies – accounting for just under half of that.
Prior to the 2007 global financial crisis, BVI boasted roughly 750,000 companies – or 34 incorporations for each of its 23,000 residents. Incorporations plummeted to 404,000 in 2007 before recovering to reach a post-crisis peak in 2011, but they have fallen each year since.
Michael Gagie, a partner at Maples and Calder which specialises in BVI and Cayman Islands law, said there had been “a little bit of a shake-up” in Hong Kong following new guidelines from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the banking regulator, that have resulted in tougher compliance standards.
HSBC and Standard Chartered declined to comment on the BVI issue. HSBC would only say that it was “adopting the highest or most effective financial crime controls and deploying them everywher we operate”, while Standard Chartered said “we do continue to tighten controls more generally”.
HKMA introduced new anti-money laundering guidelines in 2012 but said it had “not asked banks not to open accounts for corporate customers that are domiciled, incorporated or trade in a particular jurisdiction, such as the British Virgin Islands or Cayman Islands”.
The BVI suffered a blow last year following a mass leak of investor names that hit its reputation for confidentiality. France also put the BVI on a black list for sharing information with regulators too slowly. Ms Donovan said the BVI had taken corrective measures and hoped to come off the list soon.
As the BVI deals with the hurdles, Orlando Smith, BVI premier, spent last week in Hong Kong and China to drum up business. In an interview he said the jurisdiction faced several challenges, including the leaks case, and industry-wide issues such as tougher regulation. “But the reality is that our financial services remains strong. Our revenue from this continues to grow.”
Jonathon Clifton, Asia managing director at Offshore Incorporations, said the past two years had been “pretty tough” for the industry due to economic and political pressures, but that the BVI had suffered most because of the bank account issue. He said the BVI’s share of the market for Chinese incorporations had fallen from 80 per cent to 60-65 per cent since 2012.
The Seychelles gained 20,747 new incorporations from around the world last year, an annual rise of 24 per cent, said Mr Clifton. New registrations in Samoa rose 38 per cent to 5,648.
Lawyers said HSBC had not explained why BVI was coming under more pressure than places such as the Seychelles and Samoa. Mr Clifton said it was targeting the territory partly because of the number of times it appeared on so-called “suspicious transaction reports”, and that the BVI was therefore “a victim of its own success”.
One person familiar with the issue said HSBC staff had explained that there were some problems integrating its risk systems globally, which meant that one BVI transaction involving multiple jurisdictions could end up being flagged several times.
HSBC denied having any such problems. It said it had “developed global standards shaped by the highest or most effective standards of financial crime compliance available in any jurisdiction wher HSBC operates and are now in the process of deploying these globally on a consistent basis”.
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