A look at the most read stories to feature on eprivateclient this week…
Monday
Overseas ultra-high net worth investors are primed to purchase more super-prime UK property should the pound collapse in the event of a no deal Brexit, private client law firm Boodle Hatfield warned. Lockdown restrictions have prevented many from travelling to the UK to view properties in person, meaning some purchases will be made off-plan or without viewings. However, with Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and UAE being added to the UK travel corridor in recent days, more HNWs are expected to fly to the UK to conduct viewings.
The Legal Services Board (LSB) launched a consultation on a draft strategy for the legal services sector in England & Wales. The strategy follows the publication of LSB’s State of Legal Services 2020 report last month. It reflected on ten years of independent regulation and concluded although there have been achievements over the last decade, there remain significant levels of unmet legal need. To galvanise action the LSB has suggested nine priority areas of focus in 2021-24.
Tuesday
Members of European Parliament slammed the EU’s list of tax havens as “confusing and ineffective” and as a result, MEPs have adopted a resolution setting out changes to be made to the system used to draw up the EU list of tax havens. The EU’s list of tax havens, set up in 2017, has had a “positive impact” so far but has failed to “live up to its full potential, [with] jurisdictions currently on the list covering less than 2 percent of worldwide tax revenue losses”, MEPs said.
Speaking at the inaugural virtual 2020 Jersey Finance Private Wealth conference, Joe Moynihan, chief executive of the promotional body explained that for the island, like the rest of the world, 2020 has been an “exceptional year” during which the island’s financial sector had witnessed the “the devastating effect of the pandemic.”
Wednesday
Negotiations to combine the PraxisIFM Group with Oak Group ended without success. In an announcement to The International Stock Exchange on 15 December 2020 PraxisIFM said that ending negotiations will “enable both companies to continue to focus on performance improvement and integration within their own businesses” and that the decision to close negotiations had been taken after extensive talks.
The UK formally set out the minimum standards that Overseas Territories’ public registers must comply with by the end of 2023. The UK government published a draft Order in Council setting out its expectations for all UK Overseas Territories to establish publicly accessible national registers of company beneficial ownership by the end of 2023. The Order gives territory governments a framework to use when developing their own registers, including a set of minimum requirements for what the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office deems to be compliant.
Thursday
Global offshore law firm Ogier appointed private client specialist Jacqueline Loh to its Hong Kong team. Ms Loh will work with Ogier's legal and corporate administration teams as an adviser to HNWI and UHNWI clients in the Asian region. Having spent the past 13 years at HSBC, Ms Loh has specialised in the private client industry for more than 20 years, with experience as a trust and tax lawyer at Baker McKenzie and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt before moving into the private banking sector at Standard Chartered, LGT and HSBC.
2020 eprivateclient Top Trust Company Ocorian completed the acquisition of Newgate Compliance. Newgate Compliance is a London-based compliance consultancy and hosted regulatory solutions provider for funds clients, including both established and first-time managers. The deal, which was agreed on 22 September 2020 was subject to regulatory approval.
Friday
As 2020 draws to a close, eprivateclient has had a look back at the ten most read people moves of the year. We start today with the tenth to sixth biggest moves, with the top five revealed on Monday…
As a quieter than normal Christmas season fast approaches, many of us may be turning to films to help get us in the festive spirit. A firm favourite is always The Holiday, where Jack Black plays a Hollywood-based film composer. But, who would have thought this romantic comedy could provide the inspiration for a new investment trend? Atlantic Screen Media believes film music is an untapped market which investors can take advantage of and generate high returns.