According to figures released by the Company Registry, the number of companies registered in Hong Kong at the end of June this year reached above 900,000.

The European Commission has asked the Council for authorization to begin negotiating changes to agreements signed in 2004 by Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and San Marino on the taxation of savings income received by European Union (EU) residents under the Savings Tax Directive.

The US Internal Revenue Service has responded to pressure from foreign governments and banks by delaying a controversial law that requires financial groups to report their American clients to the US tax authorities.

Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man were among a number of offshore jurisdictions on a withdrawn US “blacklist".

On July 17, 2011, the Italian parliament enacted Law Decree n. 98/2011 (the Decree"), concerning urgent measures for Italian financial stabilization. The decree introduced a number of changes to existing tax law, the main features of newsalert.

Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) has confirmed that dividends paid to Hong Kong investors by companies in mainland China will be subjected to a 10% withholding tax.

On 9 June 2011, the Latvian parliament ratified the Latvia-Russia double tax treaty signed in Moscow on 20 December 2010. The treaty is planned to come into force on 1 January 2012 after being ratified by the Russian State Duma.

On 1 July 2011, the new Law of Ukraine "On the Prevention of and Counteraction against Corrupt Practices in Ukraine" (the "New Law") entered into force (except for certain provisions concerning income declaration by state officials, which will become effective on 1 January 2012).

According to the Liechtenstein administration, the withholding tax levied on interest income paid to European Union (EU) taxpayers in the Principality amounted to around CHF9.6m (EUR7.8m) in 2010. This figure compares to approximately CHF14.4m (EUR11.7m) derived from the withholding tax in 2009, the administration states.

At the end of the last week, the amount of deposits attracted by our bank exceeded EUR 2 billion.