An article on American medium and large companies tending to move their headquarters to tax-free areas has been published on Forbes homepage.

Li Keqiang, the man almost certain to succeed Wen Jiabao as China’s premier, came to Hong Kong last week bearing gifts.

Berlin made clear on Wednesday that a proposed tax on financial transactions would have to apply to the entire European Union, but renewed Franco-German backing for the levy still unnerved investors and depressed shares in European stock exchanges.

In a move to quash longstanding tax disputes between the German government and Swiss financial institutions, the governments of Germany and Switzerland on August 10 concluded negotiations on tax issues and initialled a framework for the future taxation of funds deposited in Switzerland by German residents.

Determined to regain market confidence and to rescue a failing eurozone from the brink, Germany and France have called for a common European 'economic government' to be established, spearheaded by an appointed leader, and for the fiscal and economic policies of eurozone member states to be dovetailed in order to strengthen the euro as a common currency.

Cyprus's largest commercial bank, the Bank of Cyprus, has called on the Cypriot government to make radical decisions to reduce the budget deficit and quash speculation that Cyprus will require an EU-funded bailout.

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Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man were among a number of offshore jurisdictions on a withdrawn US “blacklist".