Offshoreonline.org to offer
Turkish euro mortgages
Offshoreonline.org, a UKbased
and regulated online
mortgage broker specialising
in overseas mortgages,
is launching a new eurodenominated
service for
those wishing to buy properties
in Turkey.
The loans are available
to homebuyers of all
nationalities who can be
based anywhere in the
world, at up to 70% of a
property’s value.
They are being made
available on a capital and
interest basis only, a
spokesman for Offshoreonline.org
said, and may
be structured over any
term between seven and
20 years, with the minimum
loan size being
€50,000.
Interest rates are linked
to the European Central
Bank’s reference rate,
Euribor, so buyers are pres-
Contact ontact
Us: UUs:
s
Tel: +55 11 99 471 685
ently able to secure funding
at rates from 4.95%.
Turkey is not yet in the
eurozone, but is a candidate
for European Union
membership. Earlier this
month, US president Barack
Obama called on the EU to
admit the country, but
some member states have
expressed a desire to maintain
a go-slow approach.
Offshoreonline.org is
the online arm of HR
Independent Financial
Services, a Devon-based
IFA that began offering a
discount brokerage concept
in the expatriate
market in 1998, initially
through no-fee deals on
offshore savings funds.
It already offers similar
mortgage services for international
homebuyers in the
French, Italian, Spanish
and Portugese markets.
www.offshoreonline.org
Bermuda strikes TIEA deals
with Nordic region and NZ
BY DANIEL JUDGE
Bermuda has signed eight
new tax information
exchange agreements
(TIEAs) with all the Nordic
countries and a ninth with
New Zealand.
They bring to 11 the
total number of TIEAs the
British Overseas Territory
has signed. Prior to the
nine new agreements,
Bermuda had deals in
place with the UK, Australia
and the US.
The development is the
latest sign that tax havens
and offshore centres are
taking seriously threats by
the OECD and G20 member
states to crack down on
jurisdictions seen to be
dragging their heels on
matters of financial
transparency.
THE GREY LIST
The following jurisdictions have committed to the internationally
agreed tax standards but have not yet substantially implemented
them: Andorra; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; Bahamas;
Bahrain; Belize; Bermuda; BVIs; Cayman Islands; Cook Islands;
Dominica; Gibraltar; Grenada; Liberia; Liechtenstein; Marshall
Islands; Monaco; Montserrat; Nauru; Neth Antilles; Niue; Panama;
St Kitts and Nevis; St Lucia; St Vincent & Grenadines; Samoa; San
Marino; Turks and Caicos Islands; Vanuatu
In recent weeks a
number of economies
around the world have
announced plans to remove
impediments to the
exchange of bank information
for tax purposes and
to implement the international
standards within
specific time frames.
Last month four jurisdictions
threatened by the
OECD with sanctions for
failing to commit to tax
transparency standards –
Costa Rica, Malaysia,
NEWS
Philippines and Uruguay
– relented.
A so-called ‘greylist’ of
countries that have pledged
to meet the OECD standards
but not implemented
them, was published in
April (see boxout).
The OECD said Bermuda,
whose financial services
industry is based around
insurance and investment
funds, was one of the first
places to commit to its
international standards of
tax transparency in 2000.
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