Wednesday 14 September

FATCA will be one of the most significant, and onerous, developments in compliance over the next couple of years.

FATCA is the means by which the United States intends to make Foreign Financial Institutions ("FFIs") work for them to provide information on their US account holders or owners. The US, specifically the IRS and US Treasury Department, intend to use the information to uncover US citizens who may be holding untaxed income offshore.

In this article Marcus Hinkley provides a brief overview. Collas Crill will be holding an in-depth seminar on the issues surrounding FATCA in Guernsey on 18 October and in Jersey on the 19 October 2011.

The seminar is part of a series of three in each island and we will be sending out more information on each one soon.

Wednesday 14 September

The recent judgment of the Representation re Dunlop Settlement delivered by the Royal Court of Jersey on 14 July 2011 demonstrates and re-emphasises the importance of providing all trust documentation and information to a new trustee, as this case review shows.

Wednesday 14 September

More than 100 Jersey foundations have been registered since the Foundations (Jersey) Law came into force on 17th July 2009. Since then registrations have been steadily increasing, from 20 in the last 6 months of 2009 to nearly 30 in the first 6 months of 2011 and 9 in March 2011 alone. This article by Richard Pirie looks at who is using them and what for.

Wednesday 14 September

The shortlist for one of the categories for the forthcoming STEP Private Client Awards is testament to the strength and quality of Channel Island trust companies, we believe.

The five shortlisted companies for the Owner-Managed Trust team of the Year for the 2011-12 awards are Bedell Trust, Nerine, Ogier Private Wealth, Volaw and Appleby.

The Jersey-based member of the panel of experts is Collas Crill trust and foundations specialist Richard Pirie.

He is one of seven on the panel of experts for the Hottinger & Cie sponsored award. Richard said: "STEP is a global organisation with more than 16,000 members in over 40 jurisdictions, so the fact that four of the shortlisted companies are Channel Islands based and the fifth has a significant presence here is demonstrates the excellence and reputation of the finance industry in both Jersey and Guernsey."

The award is open to all trust companies not controlled by a bank anywhere in the world.

In their entries, companies must demonstrate excellence over the past year, they must explain their attitudes towards assets held and tax issues, and demonstrate clear policies for asset allocation, the use of external managers and an understanding of risk management.

The other judges on the Panel of Experts for this award are Christopher Pease, Sarasin & Partners; Jonathan Lee, Pearson Jones plc; Aileen Barry, DLA Piper UK; Charles Wyld, Burges Salmon; Mark Buzzoni, Taylor Wessing and Richard Hay, Stikeman Elliott.

The Awards ceremony takes place on 15 September 2011 at the London Hilton on Park Lane Hotel.

Wednesday 14 September

Collas Crill will be at the STEP Asia conference on 1-2 November at the Fairmont Hotel, Singapore.

Collas Crill opened an office in Singapore on 1 August this year, the first Channel Islands law firm to do so.

The head of our new office, partner Sean Cheong, is attending the conference with joint senior partner Nuno Santos-Costa and head of fiduciary in Guernsey Marcus Hinkley.

Sean said: "We opened in Singapore because we felt it was important to be close to our client base - Asia-based high net worth families, their advisers, fund managers and corporates.

"This region is experiencing faster growth than almost anywhere else in the world. Wealthy private clients and investors use Singapore as a hub, and this unsurprisingly creates a healthy competitive environment among international finance centres, each offering their own range of structures and services."