Oct/090
Singapore Private Banking: Clients Prefer ´´Self-Directed´´ Investment
Every savvy investor knows that even the most trusted private bank is prone to plugging its own products. While some private banking clients are happy to take a back seat, more and more are looking to direct their own investments, and take responsibility for risks. This is the message coming from Singapore private banking investors, according to delegates at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit held this 5-7th October in international financial centres worldwide.
Singapore Private Banking - Clients Like To Be In The Driving Seat
Excellent financial advice equals financial peace of mind, ideally HNWI´s can invest in creating a secure and comfortable future for themselves and their families - but even investing with notable global private banks might not fulfill that need. Fortunately, by the end of this article you will know exactly how to get private banking that´s not fueled by over-priced, under-performing products.
According to analysts, big banks like UBS are not operating the correct business model, particularly within the Asian market. A focus on product sales rather than improving advice and portfolio performance leads to a failure to build long-term client relationships.
“The challenge is to provide real quality advice that will make the difference,” says Justin Ong, head of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Asia Pacific wealth management in Singapore.
Instead, offshore private banking needs to put more resources into providing top notch trust and estate planning services, a market with great potential for growth as first generation Asian entrepreneurs age, analysts say.
“The challenge is to provide real quality advice that will make the difference,” said Ong.
Additionally Asian clients are looking to make their own decisions regarding FX and the stockmarkets.
“It is very common for us in Asia to have a client who is CEO of a large corporation or a billionaire who takes personal decisions in FX or trades FX actively or trades fixed-income or whatever he is investing in,” said Debashish Dutta Gupta, Citigroup head of investments for Asia-Pacific wealth management.
More standalone, streamlined private banking services are popping up to fill the demand. One example is Capital Conservator, which offers private bank accounts in multiple-currencies with trading facilities, promising total privacy and total investor control. An important benefit is that Capital Conservator does not sell any of its own investment products, leaving the focus on pure banking. With a reasonable 1% entry rate, this self-directed private bank account, may well be the future of private banking.
Sep/090
UK and Switzerland Amend Double Taxation Treaty
Swiss Bank Secrecy Threatened Again - What Are the Alternatives?
Swiss and UK authorities added to an existing double taxation treaty on Thursday by agreeing to OECD standards for transparency and information exchange. It is expected that the new treaty, if and when it comes into force, will be used to help combat tax evasion.
The agreement is part of a worrying relaxation of bank secrecy in Switzerland, coming after the release of confidential account details to both France and the US. This latest agreement has the capacity to affect even those who have no relation with the UK, if the UK manages to pass on information which it has discovered about the citizens of other countries.
Since March, Switzerland has operated a new policy concerning international cooperation in tax matters, and agreed to adopt article 26 of the OECD Model Double Tax Convention.
Despite the worrying signs, there is still hope. Although the Swiss government has agreed this treaty, it must still ratified by the Swiss internally. Furthermore, laws in Switzerland are subject to a referendum and repeal with a petition of 50,000 signatures. For Swiss citizens, it must seem the benefits of keeping bank secrecy surely outweigh the disadvantages.
Even so, privacy-seekers are constantly on the lookout for alternatives which might still keep their identity confidential where a Swiss bank account fails. At the forefront of developing viable financial alternatives are offshore financial companies such as Capital Conservator - which manage to keep customer identities confidential irrespective of changes in bank secrecy.
Find out more about about confidential private banking and private bank accounts.
Aug/090
More than 300 Banks Forced to Disclose Private Offshore Bank Accounts to HMRC
A court ruling has obliged 308 banks with operations in the UK to hand over information on their clients’ private offshore bank accounts.
HMRC Believes British Tax Payers Are Concealing Billions Offshore
In concert with a forthcoming tax amnesty set for this Autumn, the judgement will help HMRC reveal 1000’s of offshore accounts that hold secret wealth not reported to tax authorities.
Although a list of the banks has not been published, is it thought that many are established banks with offshore branches in tax havens and offshore financial centres like Switzerland. Others will be foreign banks that have opened UK branches.
Affluent offshore account holders who choose not to reveal their private accounts will face a penalty of 30% and a greater risk of criminal prosecution if government investigators discover that they evaded tax.
The UK government believes wealthy British citizens are concealing billions offshore, and is determined to recoup unreported wealth.
Jul/090
Swiss Private Banks
How Far Can You Trust Swiss Private Banking?
Swiss Private Banking has come under fire for the UBS scandal and IRS probes into tax evasion by wealthy Americans.
Will Swiss private banks still protect bank secrecy? What other alternatives are out there?
The signs coming from the Swiss government over bank secrecy look promising. Faced with the prospect of UBS revealing financial records, the Swiss government promised to seize the confidential information before it could be handed over to US Authorities!
It’s not in Swiss interest to break bank secrecy. It’s not in the interest of Swiss Private Banks to do this either, because they will lose some of their most valuable private clients.
Private Banking Your Money Will Love
Having said that, the Swiss still must play a game of give and take. Bank Secrecy is not “over” - but overt tax evasion is. While the Swiss would previously turn a blind eye to all tax issues except tax fraud (e.g. forging a signature on a tax return), they will now exchange information in cases where the foreign government has good evidence of suspected tax evasion - without “automatic” exchange. It will still be hard for foreign governments to pursue this line of attack unless they have a definite target.
This tells us if you are not breaking tax laws at home, if you are not laundering drug-money or financing terrorism, Swiss bank secrecy will stand strong for you.
But Swiss Banks are now wary of taking on American clients because the tax evasion issue is still too “hot”, especially under the Obama administration. They are wary of being held responsible for the tax liabilities of American clients, when an 800lb gorilla lurks across the pond ready to take legal action.
Alternative Private Banking
Many private Swiss banks work on an “introduction” basis. A financial professional, lawyer or current client will “introduce” a client to the bank. Without such an introduction its very difficult to open an account, especially if you don’t live in Switzerland! Yet paying for the “introduction fee” can cost many thousands of dollars.
For those that still require the best bank secrecy and personal service the world has to offer, Private bank accounts at “Capital Conservator” are an excellent alternative.
This private banking service holds your private bank account in a Swiss Trust Company. Swiss Trust laws are separate from standard Swiss Banking Laws, and the confidentiality of a Swiss Trust is much harder to break. Even in a DIRECT attack on Swiss banking, Swiss Trust privacy is not affected.
They have a dedicated private banking arm that caters to an exclusive group of wealthy clients. I’m hearing from the inside that for the next couple of months only you can join WITHOUT an introduction. After this its going to be by reference ONLY. I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to last, and its one of the only zero-introduction Swiss private banking services out there. You can cut out the middle man and save yourself thousands of dollars if you act quickly….
Heres the link to the private bank account
Heres the private banking area of their website.
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