维京群岛遭遇"反洗钱"压力

2014-09-24 18:15:29来源：可可英语

　　The BVI has been favoured by Chinese companies in Hong Kong for more than three decades.As the UK prepared to hand Hong Kong back to China in 1997, companies rushed to createoffshore vehicles in the jurisdiction to protect their assets. Sixty per cent of the BVI’sgovernment revenue comes from financial services, with Asia – predominantly Chinesecompanies – accounting for just under half of that.

　　过去三十多年来，BVI一直吸引着许多设立在香港的中国企业。在英国准备于1997年将香港归还中国之际，许多企业急于在BVI设立离岸公司，以保护它们的资产。BVI政府的收入中，60%来自金融服务，其中近一半的收入来自以中国企业为主导的亚洲公司。

　　Prior to the 2007 global financial crisis, BVI boasted roughly 750,000 companies – or 34incorporations for each of its 23,000 residents. Incorporations plummeted to 404,000 in 2007before recovering to reach a post-crisis peak in 2011, but they have fallen each year since.

　　在2007年全球金融危机以前，BVI的公司数目达到约75万家，而该群岛居民只有2.3万人，平均每人34家公司。而在2007年，这一数字大幅减少至40.4万家，此后又在2011年回升到危机后的顶点。不过，自那以来，在BVI开办公司的数目每年都在下降。

　　Michael Gagie, a partner at Maples and Calder which specialises in BVI and Cayman Islandslaw, said there had been “a little bit of a shake-up” in Hong Kong following new guidelines fromthe Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the banking regulator, that have resulted in toughercompliance standards.

　　迈克尔•加吉耶(Michael Gagie)是迈普达律师事务所(Maples and Calder)合伙人，熟知BVI和开曼群岛法律。他说，香港银行业监管机构香港金融管理局(Hong Kong Monetary Authority)出台的新准则导致合规标准进一步提高，这在香港曾引发“小范围震荡”。

　　HSBC and Standard Chartered declined to comment on the BVI issue. HSBC would only saythat it was “adopting the highest or most effective financial crime controls and deploying themeverywhere we operate”, while Standard Chartered said “we do continue to tighten controlsmore generally”.

　　汇丰和渣打拒绝置评BVI问题。汇丰银行只是表示，该行“正在采取最高或最为有效的金融犯罪监控手段，并在所有我们运营业务的地方都采用了这些手段”。而渣打银行则表示“我们确实在继续从更普遍意义上加强监控”。

　　HKMA introduced new anti-money laundering guidelines in 2012 but said it had “not askedbanks not to open accounts for corporate customers that are domiciled, incorporated or tradein a particular jurisdiction, such as the British Virgin Islands or Cayman Islands”.

　　香港金管局新的反洗钱规定是2012年设立的。不过该机构表示，“并未要求银行不要为在特定司法管辖区——比如BVI或开曼群岛——驻留、创办或开展交易的企业创建账户。”

　　The BVI suffered a blow last year following a mass leak of investor names that hit itsreputation for confidentiality. France also put the BVI on a black list for sharing informationwith regulators too slowly. Ms Donovan said the BVI had taken corrective measures and hopedto come off the list soon.

　　去年，BVI曾由于大规模泄露投资者姓名而遭遇重大打击，这一事件严重伤害了该群岛在保密方面的声誉。此外，法国政府也由于BVI与监管机构分享信息太过迟缓，将该群岛列入黑名单。对此，多诺万表示，BVI已采取了正确措施，希望能尽快从黑名单上除名。

　　As the BVI deals with the hurdles, Orlando Smith, BVI premier, spent last week in Hong Kongand China to drum up business. In an interview he said the jurisdiction faced severalchallenges, including the leaks case, and industry-wide issues such as tougher regulation. “Butthe reality is that our financial services remains strong. Our revenue from this continues togrow.”

　　就在BVI努力应对重重障碍之际，BVI总理奥兰多•史密斯(Orlando Smith)上周一直在香港和中国内地为该群岛招揽生意。他在一次访谈中表示，该地区目前正面临极大挑战，这其中既包括泄密事件，也包括监管加强之类的全行业问题。“不过，事实是我们的金融服务依然很强。来自金融服务的收入继续保持增长。”

本文关键字: 维京群岛遭遇"反洗钱"压力