Bermuda has signed eight new tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with seven Nordic countries and a ninth with New Zealand.
The seven Nordic countries are Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands.
The round of signings brings to 11 the total number of TIEAs the British Overseas Territory has signed. Prior to the nine new agreements, Bermuda had deals in place with the UK, Australia and the US.
The development is the latest sign that tax havens and offshore centres are are taking seriously threats by the OECD and G20 member states to crack down on jurisdictions seen to be dragging their heels on matters of financial transparency.
In recent weeks a number of economies – including in Asia, Europe and Latin America, as well as the Caribbean – have announced plans to remove impediments to the exchange of bank information for tax purposes and to implement the international standards within specific time frames.
The OECD said Bermuda – whose financial services industry is based around insurance and investment funds – was one of the first jurisdictions to commit to its international standards of tax transparency in 2000. It also contributed to the development of its Model Agreement on Exchange of Information in Tax Matters in 2002, on which the bilateral agreements with the Nordic economies are based.
