Summit Notebook
Exclusive outtakes from industry leaders
Tax evaders on the run
By Neil Chatterjee The U.S. has promised it will hunt down tax evaders. And it seems tax evaders are on the run. DBS bank, based in the growing offshore financial centre of Singapore, told Reuters it had been approached by U.S. citizens asking for its private banking services. But when told they would have to sign U.S. tax declaration forms, the potential clients disappeared. Swiss banks also approached DBS on the hope they could offload troublesome U.S. clients to a location that so far has not been reached by the strong arms of Washington or Brussels. DBS said no thanks. In fact many private banks and boutique advisors now seem to be avoiding U.S. clients. Will this spread to other nationalities, as governments invest in tax spies and tax havens invest in white paint? Is this the end of offshore private private banking?
Survival, yes, but what about the money?
Veteran Wall Street banking analyst Richard Bove sees Lehman Brothers surviving – but he doesn’t think they’ll be making a lot of money. There’s just not a lot of business there at the moment for brokers like Lehman, he told the Reuters Investment Outlook Summit in New York. To listen to a clip of what Bove had to say, please click here
There will more re-thinking of IB roles. In the end they will morph to mony making… Nuthin like OPM to create profit margins.
Offshore investment or not. You have to be allowed to invest your taxed money wherever you want. Evading payment of taxes where you reside will always be an illegal act.