Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton is meeting this week with UK and European Union lawmakers in London and Brussels, on subjects including beneficial ownership; the EU screening process; proposed UK legislation; OECD and EU initiatives; Brexit; and to participate on a panel in Brussels on corporate taxation.
‘My Ministry continues to make progress with our UK and EU counterparts, on the highest levels, as we explain how our financial services regime works, and how it benefits both Cayman and countries around the world.
‘This certainly is not the first time that we’ve engaged with some of these individuals, but during this visit we significantly expanded the network of influencers that we are contacting’, Minister Panton said. ‘The perceptions of Cayman are shifting positively because of the work that has accelerated during this administration, and the Ministry is committed to continuing this high degree of strategic proactivity’.
The meetings commenced on Monday, 30 January and will conclude on Friday, 3 February. Accompanying Minister Panton are Chief Officer Dr Dax Basdeo; the directors of the Department of Financial Services Policy and Legislation, and the Department for International Tax Cooperation, Michelle Bahadur and Duncan Nicol, respectively; and the Ministry’s Head of Communications and Public Affairs Angela Piercy. Supporting the Ministry with its London engagement is Government’s London Representative Eric Bush.
Key outcomes of the week to date include the Minister’s participation in the Centre for European Policy Studies panel, titled Towards Fairer Corporate Taxation: Will the Measures Do the Job in Third Countries?
Minister Panton and his delegation also met UK and EU lawmakers and officials, including: § UK Members of Parliament Andrew Mitchell and Nigel Mills, with whom the Minister spoke about a number of subjects, including the UK Corporate Finances Bill to which an amendment would impose public registers of beneficial ownership information upon the
Overseas Territories. § Mr Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs and
Customs, who in June 2015 announced the names of jurisdictions that the EU considered
non-cooperative, which today is being taken in the form of the EU screening process. § Mr Valere Moutarlier, director of direct taxation, corporate tax and international issues in
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the European Commission’s Taxation and Customs Union department. Known as DG TAXUD, Mr Moutarlier’s department is responsible for the EU’s proposed blacklist, in conjunction with the Code of Conduct Group in the Council of the EU.
§ Mr Werner Langen, Member of the European Parliament, who chairs the EP’s Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion, which is tasked with investigating the Panama Papers revelations and tax avoidance schemes.
§ Alain Lamassoure, Member of the European Parliament for the southwest of France, who is a member of the European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion.
Following this week of meetings, Minister Panton and the Premier, the Hon. Alden McLaughlin, will participate in a special UK Joint Ministerial Council on Brexit, held in London.