Ireland top Eurozone TAX HAVEN25 Aug 2017 20:02
Ireland stays top euro zone centre for financial special purpose vehicles
Reuters News report.
Fri, 18th Aug 2017 13:14
FRANKFURT, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Ireland remains the euro zone's largest centre for financial special purpose vehicles, data from the European Central Bank (ECB) showed on Friday, placing it far ahead of closest rival Luxembourg.
Such vehicles, many of which are shell companies set up to borrow or invest, had assets, chiefly loans and debt, of 391 billion euros ($460 billion), which is greater than the Irish economy.
The data comes amid a debate in Ireland about its hosting of such conduits, pitting critics, who see a risk to the country's reputation, against those who want to keep them to help attract business from London after Brexit.
The ECB data makes the sector in Ireland, as it stood at the end of June, two thirds larger than in Luxembourg and bigger even than in Italy, one of Europe's largest economies.
Special purpose vehicles are part of Ireland's offering to financial firms looking to move from London ahead of Britain's departure from the European Union. Ireland already accounts for roughly a fifth of such activity in the euro zone and its dominance of the sector has held steady compared with earlier such surveys.
The growth in the number of such companies has prompted criticism from Irish lawmakers, however, who fear they could damage the reputation of the country, which was nearly bankrupted by its own financial crash during the credit crunch.
Ireland hosted numerous such vehicles before the crash that were linked to banks hit in the turmoil.
Much of the current debate centres on one common Irish structure, known as a Section 110 company, which cuts tax close to zero on financial deals by creating exemptions from withholding tax, otherwise automatically deducted from income.
Full report HERE...
http://www.lse.co.uk/FinanceNews.asp?code=7mrxn3vl&headline=ireland_stays_top_euro_zone_centre_for_financial_special_purpose_vehicles
One of the 48% btw
🇮🇪🇬🇧🇪🇺
Sign In
Follow the stocks
