Panama examining financial exchange strategy

WHILE Panama remains one of a shrinking group of countries that have not signed an international agreement on the exchange of financial information, the State is re-evaluating its strategy.

 In a prepared statement, the Foreign Ministry said that the assessment will be “to meet the requirements of transparency and exchange of financial information at the international level, without ignoring national interests.”
It noted that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has established new international standards for the automatic exchange of information. However, its scope, methodology, limitations and other fundamental aspects have not been defined.
“The automatic exchange of information generates challenges that have to be evaluated in the light of Panamanian legislation, the interests of the country and the protection of users of our services,” the ministry said.
On Wednesday, October 29, 51 countries committed themselves to exchange information automatically from the years 2017 and 2018. It means that the countries will include bank details of foreign residents, which will be sent to their countries of origin.
In total, there are already 93 jurisdictions from around the world committed to the automatic exchange. Among them are countries considered traditional tax havens, such as the British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Panama and jurisdictions such as Bahrain, Cook Islands, Nauru and Vanuatu have still not signed the pledge.