A Centre of Excellence
Isle of Man sectors operate to a common standard – and that standard is world class.
• The Isle of Man has been voted the ‘Best International Finance Centre’ at the Investment International Awards eight times out of the last nine years, winning again in 2009
• Following their consistent success in previous years, Isle of Man companies fared equally well, picking up the lion’s share of success by winning 8 awards
• The Isle of Man was judged as one of the top five European Cities and Regions of the Future by Foreign Direct Investment Magazine in 2008
• In 2005, Isle of Man was named European winner of The Banker’s Financial Centres of the Future
• The Island benefits from an advanced telecommunications infrastructure including mobile 3.5G, 100% home broadband coverage at speeds of up to 16Mbps and five diverse high speed fibre links off-Island, linking all major international data hubs
• The Isle of Man’s international Ship Register is highly positioned on the White List of the Paris MOU on Port State Control and has been highly rated at the top of the industry’s Flag State Performance table in 2005 and 2006
• During 2009, the Isle of Man further exemplified its model of openness and co-operation by providing a major initiative, developed with the assistance of the World Bank and Commonwealth Secretariat, to share its expertise in financial services with other small states
A responsible and co-operative country
The Isle of Man has a strong track record of complying with international standards of financial regulation, as assessed by the IMF and others. This has been recognised by the G20 conference, with the Isle of Man being placed on the OECD ‘white list’ of countries.
The Isle of Man is a separate legal jurisdiction, but it is not a secret or closed one. It has no bank secrecy laws.
A number of independent, external assessments of the Island’s regulatory practices in relation to financial services have confirmed that the Island cooperates fully in the pursuit of international financial crimes and that its defences against money laundering and terrorist financing comply with the highest international standards.
These assessments include a major UK Home Office review of financial regulations (the Edwards Review) in 1998, a positive evaluation in 1999 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering and a clean bill of health from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2003. A further IMF review in 2009 confirmed the Isle of Man’s continuing high level of compliance with global standards of financial sector supervision, including international cooperation and the combating of money laundering.
The Island has long been committed to the international standards of tax transparency developed by the OECD in 2000. Having signed more tax information exchange agreements than any of our counterparts, the Isle of Man is at the forefront of small nations in delivering on that commitment.
We therefore welcome the Island’s inclusion on the OECD ‘white list’ of countries complying with the global standard for tax co-operation and exchange of information which places the Isle of Man in the top tier of jurisdictions – alongside nations such as the UK, USA, Germany, France, Sweden and Ireland.
