ADB opening boosts

Vila tax haven

Vanuatu’s importance as a Pacific and international finan cial centre has been enhanced by the opening of an Asian Development Bank regional office in Port Vila and the almost concurrent establish ment of a new operations centre for the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Both offices will bring new income, and new people, to Vanuatu, adding to the commercial com munity which has been steadily growing there since 1971.

In that year the British colo nial administration passed legislation to make Port Vila a tax haven. With independence this was carried on and then extended and now, with the arrival of the ADB and ESCAP, the town becomes a centre for the aid business in the Pacific, and a further focus of attention for business and commerce.

Vanuatu’s emergence as a tax haven and finance centre has been rapid as money managers in the United States, Australia, and Hongkong have recognised its good position in world time zones, and also the expertise of the operators of the trust companies.

In the 13 years they have been operating they have attracted such notable financial powers as Barclays Internatio nal, the Hongkong and Shang hai Banking Corporation, West pac, the ANZ, and the Bank of New Zealand, as well as the major international accounting firms, like Price Waterhouse; Peat, Marwick Mitchell; Coop ers and Lybrand.

But it is the trust companies and money managers which make the business and upon whom Vanuatu depends for what is now a very substantial part of its national income; with them service is the name of the game.

Andrew Munro, resident partner in the firm of Briggs Moore and Co, Australian char tered accountants, points proudly to the link between his company and Asiaciti Trust

Group, one of the most active organisations in the offshore field, with offices in Hongkong, Singapore and Port Vila.

Briggs Moore/Asiaciti will open a new office in Santo this month, taking their service into an area which, because of the Jimmy Stephens rebellion in 1980, has been very depressed, both in terms of business and of morale.

Tom Bayer is another of the Vanuatu originals who is very bullish about the finance centre’s scope and future. He is managing director of Pacific International Trust Company (PITCO), which was originally set up by a consortium which included Westpac of Australia, Hill Samuel of London, and Sumitomo Bank of Japan.

‘time-zone gives an edge in New York and Hong Kong . .

Tom, a slim, enthusiastic New Yorker, considers he has the best of both worlds ... all necessary contact by computer and facsimile with all the major money markets of the world, in a time-zone which gives an edge in such important ex changes as New York, Sydney and Hongkong, good air services, and an idyllic place to live.

Graeme Briggs, executive chairman of the Asiaciti Trust Group, says Vanuatu has now emerged as the principal tax free offshore financial centre in the Asian and Pacific region.

The initial impetus came from Australian sources in 1972, just after implementation of the tax haven legislation introduced by the British, then colonial rulers.

In those early years numer ous companies and trusts were set up, but tax avoidance in those days was very complex and, eventually, was dealt with by new Australian legislation passed in 1973.

“Since then, fortunately for

Vanuatu, business of a more sophisticated nature has been attracted from international sources,” Mr Briggs said. “The Asian region has emerged as a primary source of business for Vanuatu ”

In 1983 an amendment to the legislation allowed anonymity to beneficial owners, which added to the appeal of Vanuatu for Asian businessmen. Audits were also made optional for companies designated as exempted under Vanuatu law.

Exempted companies are prohibited from trading in Vanuatu except in relation to their offshore business. Secrecy is guaranteed in the business affairs of corporations registered in Vanuatu as exempted companies. Nor are there any income, corporate, withholding or capital gains taxes.

Vanuatu has no exchange

controls and thus funds may be held, and freely converted into, any foreign currency, w . 4 Vanuatu ? perates , fla 9 of c ? nven “ n f* menaces for ship- P in 9 ancl a5O * ias advantage for s ° me P rivate airline Proprietors f.t C ° me m advan ’ ! ase °' tbe ,ff >übllc s ver V and flexlble lnsurance °Per a ors ‘ The Maritime Act has been operating since 1981, is modelled on the Liberian ship ping registry, and has adopted the hon-statutory general mari time law of the USA. The fees are competitive with other ship ping registries and, because of Vanuatu’s finance centre rules, the same secrecy provisions obtain for ship owners as for investors. Again, no income taxes are levied on shipping company profits.

On the foreshore of Port-Vila harbor, banks and business offices rise.