The Australian has reported:
UBS’s US operations decided on the ban earlier this month after it was caught up in a congressional enquiry into tax avoidance, which also exposed the private tax dealings of Australia’s second-richest man, Frank Lowy.
“UBS will no longer provide offshore banking or security services to US residents through our bank branches,” said [...]
These are my links for July 30th:
FT.com / Companies / Financial services - Bank distress worries return to haunt UK - "Although four of the country’s biggest banks, including RBS, HBOS and Barclays, have raised about £21bn to repair battered balance sheets through rights issues and placings, analysts are questioning whether this is enough." Let's [...]
A commentator on my blogs on the IFS proposals for the reform of VAT said:
Surely, if we wish for integrity in any debate like this, we must complete the proposition with ‘all other things being equal’. If we cancel a vat subsidy, we would have a very large pot of cash. The virtue or otherwise [...]
The Guardian has published the following report this morning. Because of its importance to the work of those who work to stop tax abuse I am reproducing it in full because I suspect that the Guardian has taken considerable care to ensure it is balanced:
Details of elaborate offshore corporation tax avoidance schemes operated by Tesco [...]
The FT has reported that:
Siemens on Tuesday announced it planned to claim damages from eleven of its former executive board members, including ex-chief executives Heinrich von Pierer and Klaus Kleinfeld, over their role in the bribery scandal that struck the company almost two years ago.
Europe’s biggest engineering group claimed the managers had “breached their organisational [...]
Over at TaxationWEB I voice my concern over HM Revenue & Customs’ sweeping programme of local office closures and staff reductions.
As I conclude:
Let’s face reality: local is good. Please stop these closures.
These are my links for July 29th:
Tibbetts Responds To GAO Report - Cayman responds with weasel words. I can't imagine action will follow.
TaxAdviceNetwork: "Policy by panic" - Mark Lee says 'GB needs a strategy'. Mark is right: Brown hasn't got one.
I am disappointed to note that, as the FT reports:
There is no quick fix for Britain’s mortgage crisis and the long-term funding of mortgages should be left to the market, a report to Alistair Darling will conclude on Tuesday.
The interim report from Sir James Crosby, the former HBOS chairman asked by the Treasury to lead [...]
These are my links for July 29th:
E&Y takes on another 282 partners - Accountancy Age - Spreads the liability risk around a bit, I suppose
FT.com / World - IMF sees no end in sight to credit crisis - Nor do I. It's going to get worse before any recovery can happen. The current rules of [...]
These are my links for July 29th:
FT.com / World - Ex-Lloyds chief to run FSA’s retail arm - Poacher turned gamekeeper. Really? I hope so, but really don't believe it possible.
