World Money Laundering Report - Special - Cyprus Solution, Money Laundering & the Offshore Industry

LONDON - March 19, 2013 - PRLog -- The Greek part of Cyprus has been something of a dark horse in the offshore financial industry, lacking the high-profiles of The Cayman Isles and their neighbours, the Channel Islands, Dubai, Mauritius and - more controversially, the USA, the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Of late, Cyprus has attracted special attention for the vast amounts of Russian money deposited there and the not unreasonable presumption that a significant of that money is laundered proceeds of criminal conduct in Russia.

There have been a number of criticisms of Cyprus' counter-money laundering laws, regulation and their effectiveness and enforcement.

When the Cyrus financial system hit a crisis in mid 2012, the EU - which will, ultimately, be responsible for a bail-out - decided to tie its support to more effective measures to counter-money laundering. In November 2012, the German newspaper Spiegel carried a report which was widely quoted. That report said that the newspaper had discovered evidence that Cyprus had become a laundering centre of choice for Russian criminals.

The Cyprus Solution will result in issues for the world's wealth management industry especially in offshore centres.

Contents
Introduction. 3
Defining "Cyprus." 3
The EU will not be an ATM for shaky economies 4
Cyprus and money laundering 4
Cyprus and Royalties and Intellectual Property 6
Cyprus' offshore financial centre structure. 6
Cyprus and blacklists, etc. 8
The USA's State Department review March 2013 8
How might the Cyprus Solution affect the wider offshore industry? 9
Which countries will need to beef up their counter-money laundering due diligence? 9
Capital flight from shaky economies? 9
Wealth Tax by stealth? 10
What happened to bank guarantees? 10
Conclusion 10
Disclaimer 11

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For details, see http://www.worldmoneylaunderingreport.com

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Nigel Morris-Cotterill, Head, The Anti Money Laundering Network, author of this Report, is available for media comment and analysis of the issues raised. Please submit a request via the website at antimoneylaundering.net