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Alert is intended for financial institutions that need to monitor export control risks. Among the risks, in particular, the following stand out: Purchases under a letter of credit that are transferred to the issuing bank rather than to the actual end user. Transactions involving entities with little or no online presence, including websites and emails. Customer does not provide or refuses to provide detailed information to banks, shippers or third parties, including information about end users, intended end use or company ownership. Transactions involving customers with telephone numbers whose codes do not correspond to the destination country. The Alert also reminds that all financial institutions that are required to file a SAR may also file a SAR regardless of the amount (if any) and regardless of whether the transaction has been completed or...

​Klarna is gearing up for an IPO ahead of its long-awaited initial public offering. The company started the process of restructuring the legal entity to create a holding company. This, she said, is "an important first step on the way to a possible IPO." The listing may take place in the first half of next year. However, Klarna may abandon the listing in London and turn to New York. The company's IPO could be worth between $15 billion and $30 billion, more than double the valuation it received in its last funding round in 2022, but well below the company's $46 billion valuation in 2021. The downgrade comes amid tough times for trailblazer BNPL, which has cut a tenth of its workforce and lost value amid a revaluation in the technology market. Since then, the company has shown signs of recovery, reporting net income for the third quarter this week. Particularly strong growth was observed in the USA, where the gross value of goods increased by 46% compared to the previous year. In addition, giant BNPL entered into a collective agreement with its Swedish workers to avoid a strike. The unions Unionen and Swedish Engineering have warned that their...

Solomon Islands offers a number of benefits to its citizens. Now it is possible for foreign investors to obtain a jurisdiction passport in a simplified manner. It is worth clarifying that we are not talking about a full-fledged program for obtaining citizenship by investment. In October 2023, parliamentarians approved changes and additions to the law “On Citizenship”. The new rules make it easier to obtain local citizenship for foreigners who maintain close ties with the host country and provide it with financial support through incentives for the employment of citizens and residents, the purchase of real estate or business investment. In addition to investment, applicants will have to maintain close ties with the host country for at least 5/10...

At its meeting in October, the European Central Bank (ECB) left interest rates unchanged. Last month it decided to raise the deposit rate to a record 4%. The most intense cycle of interest rate hikes since 1999 was paused at this level amid growing fears of a recession in the eurozone economy. The rate on main refinancing operations, which provides the bulk of the liquidity of the banking system, remained at 4.5%, and the marginal rate on loans providing overnight credit to banks remained at 4.75%. In its statement, the ECB confirmed that keeping borrowing costs at this level for quite some time would make a “significant contribution” to returning inflation to its 2%...

In September, Latvia adopted a Law that introduces the obligation to submit public reporting by country (CbC). Thus, the country's domestic legislation will comply with the current European Union Directive 2021/2101. The law determines the procedure for preparing, submitting and publishing reports of international groups of companies. The subjects of the law are commercial companies and business entities registered in the Republic of Latvia, if they meet the established criteria and conditions. The report must include the name of the reporting parent, the reporting year, the currency used to prepare the report, information about all subsidiaries of the multinational corporation's parent included in the consolidated financial statements for the reporting years and established or registered in the European Union or tax jurisdictions, who do not cooperate in the field of...

The report was published by Tax Observatory. On average, companies registered in Ireland pay corporation tax at a rate of 7%. This is much lower than the declared effective income tax rate of 12.5%. That is why the country was called a tax haven. 58% of corporate tax revenue is paid by companies that use Ireland for tax optimization. Irish households had more than $120 billion in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and bank deposits stashed away in offshore tax havens, a study found. This represents approximately a fifth of Ireland's GDP in...

President Klaus Iohannis signed into law a package of tax measures that increase taxes. They are also canceling a number of financial benefits for IT, agriculture, food industry and construction. The Romanian government believes that tax increases and budget cuts were EU conditions for providing Romania with funds for post-pandemic recovery. The country must submit to EU pressure so that more than 29 billion euros allocated by Brussels for the country's Recovery and Resilience Plan can be transferred to Bucharest in full. However, the European Commission did not oblige Romania to take serious measures to reduce the budget deficit or to reduce expenses. With the help of innovations, the government tried to get additional funds for the budget by further taxing the private sector, instead of reducing the expenses of the state apparatus and refraining from raising the salaries of civil servants. The budget deficit at the end of September reached more than 11.2 billion euros. Government spending is also on the rise and is now 14% higher than in 2022. The new tax measures mean that micro-enterprises will pay a tax of 1% of turnover on revenues of up to €60,000 per...

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act has been approved by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It will expand authorities' ability to freeze and confiscate crypto assets associated with money laundering and drug trafficking. The authors of the document expect that expanding the arsenal of tools available to law enforcement agencies will increase the efficiency of the mechanism and speed up the procedure for seizing digital currencies associated with criminal activities. One of these measures is the ability to carry out confiscation without an indictment when there is strong evidence that funds were used in illegal transactions. The document contains provisions that allow authorities to seize other tools, for example, those that help track “criminal” crypto assets. The bill remains to receive royal...

The Canary Islands could lose €18 million in tax revenue due to the abolition of inheritance and gift taxes. The benefit will apply to first- and second-line heirs (children, spouses, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces). The government is forced to take such measures in connection with the region's accession to the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands. Financial advisor Mathilde Azian explained this decision by the fact that citizens of the islands already have a rather impressive tax burden in the form of having to pay income tax, capital gains tax and land tax. Regional inheritance tax may also apply to non-residents who receive assets as an inheritance or gift in Spain. You can get a 99.9% discount only on the first €300 thousand. Anything above this threshold will be taxed at a progressive rate of up to...