Varela promises exchange of financial information but

PRESIDENT Juan Carlos Varela said on Wednesday September 30 in a speech to the  UN committing  Panamaa to  the automatic exchange of financial information, and then added a few “buts”

“Panama is committed to expanding its international cooperation in the field of fiscal transparency and advancing toward the automatic exchange of information on tax matters on a bilateral basis,” he said

That pledge, though, is subject to certain conditions. The main one is that it will be done bilaterally and within the framework of a negotiated agreement similar to the one adopted with the United States. This differs from the agreements promoted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Minister of the Presidency Álvaro Alemán said that “it is a right of the state to determine who exchanges information.” Gian Castillero, an advisor to the Foreign Ministry, said that it is “a commitment of the government to study a clear trend that is advancing worldwide, but it will be done with sufficient care so it is not counterproductive to national interests.”

In addition to announcing the commitment on financial information, Varela proposed that this debate should be incorporated into the regular agenda of the UN to “ensure that initiatives that arise are discussed by countries under equal conditions.”

Varela said there is a need to respect “the right of each country to take the measures it deems necessary to ensure that the automatic exchange of information, pursuant to the common good, is not misused to harm the competitiveness of some countries to the detriment of others.”

One of the goals of Panama in this global debate is to safeguard the interests of its financial services sector. The Panamanian banking sector had $83 billion in deposits at the end of July. Of that total, more than $36 billion came from abroad.