Lecture12OffshoreFinancialCenters

1、1 lecture 12 offshore financial centers 離岸金融中心stage 1 dictation you will hear a list of words and expressions that will appear in the incoming lecture. please write them down in the space provided below. 1)james bond 2)brokering 3)holding company 4)fiduciary services 5)internet gaming 6)aftermath 7)

2、eurocurrency 8)haven 9)stringent 10) secrecy law 11) euro-deutschmark 12) foreign currency interest rate instrument 13) equity derivative 14) custody 15) transfer agent 16) capital tax 17) withholding tax 18) capital gains tax 19) law-abiding 20) legitimate 21) financial disclosure22) tax evasion 23

3、) money laundering 24) capital flightstage 2 listening comprehension now, you will listen to the lecture on offshore financial centers. as you listen, find answers to the following questions: 1. what is offshore financial transaction? it is a transaction between foreign lender and foreign borrower.

4、2. what is offshore finance? it refers to the provision of financial services by banks and other financial institutions to foreign customers other than local residents. 3. what happened to great britain after world war one? in the aftermath of world war i, the british economy weakened, and london lo

5、st its ability to compete effectively with new york for international capital. londons financial community watched its business slowly disappeared. 2 4. what do offshore financial centers have in common? they share the following features: (1) there are no or low taxes, (2) there are no or few foreig

6、n exchange controls, (3) there is a high degree of political stability, (4) infrastructure such as telecommunication and transportation is well developed, (5) banking secrecy is legally protected, (6) the geographic location is convenient and favorable, and (7) a supportive regulatory environment is

7、 provided. 5. what are the arguments in favor of offshore financial centers? (1) law-abiding citizens and companies have the right to their financial privacy. (2) reputable offshore financial centers assist in international finance and trade, allowing legitimate risk management and financial plannin

8、g. (3) offshore finance can enable countries which are limited in population size and natural resources to use their comparative advantage and tourism in their economic activities. 6. what are the arguments against offshore financial centers? (1) a lack of transparency in offshore financial centers

9、is being used in illegal tax evasion, thus reducing government tax revenues. (2) offshore financial centers facilitate money laundering, capital flight, and even the financing of terrorism due to insufficient regulation. stage 3 note-taking exercisein this note-taking exercise, there are no guided n

10、otes provided for you. so, it is going to be difficult because the lecture is long and contains a lot of information. in order to speed up your note-taking, use symbols and abbreviations wherever possible. now, listen to the lecture and take your notes. lecture script: offshore financial centersif y

11、ou remember well, more than one james bond movie has taken place in the bahamas, or switzerland, revolving around the use of offshore bank accounts by big bad guys trying to take over our planet. why in the bahamas or switzerland? before you find out the answer, let me explain what an offshore finan

12、cial transaction is. on the international financial market, transactions are classified into three types: (1) between foreign lenders and domestic borrowers, (2) between domestic lenders and foreign borrowers, and (3) between foreign lenders and foreign borrowers. the last of these three types, i.e.

13、 between foreign lenders and foreign borrowers, are called offshore financial transactions. next, i ll explain offshore finance. offshore finance involves the provision of financial services by banks and other financial intermediaries to non-residents. in other words, offshore finance is offered to

14、foreign customers other than the local population. these financial services include the borrowing of money from non-residents and lending to non-residents, fund management, brokering, insurance, holding company registration, fiduciary services, and internet gaming, all involving non-residents. offsh

15、ore finance began to take shape after world war i. in the aftermath of world war i, the british economy, the world s strongest power, weakened, and london, the world s largest financial center, lost its ability to compete effectively with new york for international capital. 3 londons financial commu

16、nity watched its business slowly disappeared. with the emergence of eurocurrency markets in the late 1950s, offshore financial transactions became increasingly predominant. unknown parts of the world soon became important offshore financial centers. in continental europe, switzerland had long establ

17、ished its reputation as a haven for funds after passing stringent secrecy laws in the late 1930s. in the 1970s, luxembourg imitated switzerland and attracted a great deal of the newly emerging euro-deutschmark business. in americas, the bahamas began to serve as a banking center for american-based b

18、anks in the late 1960s. in the mid-1970s, the cayman islands was chosen as an alternative home by the banking industry. subsequently, barbados, bermuda, costa rica and panama were turned into offshore financial centers. in the middle east, the bahrain government, with the help of the british, began

19、to develop an offshore banking center in the 1970s. spotting the weaknesses of the financial systems in the surrounding countries, bahrain took the opportunity to manage opecs rapidly increasing oil revenues. in the far east, it was hong kong and singapore that first attempted to build up an offshor

20、e financial services industry. after years of effort, markets for foreign currencies, foreign currency interest rate instruments and equity derivatives were eventually created in the late 1980s. there are currently 70 offshore financial centers around the world. although situated in different locati

21、ons, all offshore financial centers share the following elements: (1) there are no or low taxes, (2) there are no or few foreign exchange controls, (3) there is a high degree of political stability, (4) infrastructure such as telecommunication and transportation is well developed, (5) banking secrec

22、y is legally protected, (6) the geographic location is convenient and favorable, and (7) a supportive regulatory environment is provided. given these attractive characteristics, there has been a rapid growth in using the offshore financial center services. for example, many multinational corporation

23、s have set up offshore banks in the bahamas to handle their foreign exchange operations or to facilitate financing of an international joint venture. to obtain the offshore banking license, the multinational corporation establishes a wholly owned subsidiary in the bahamas. once established, the subs

24、idiary can provide offshore fund administration services, such as fully integrated global custody, fund accounting, asset management, and transfer agent services. meanwhile, the subsidiary enjoys numerous benefits, including no capital tax, no withholding tax on dividends or interest, no tax on tran

25、sfers, no corporation tax, no capital gains tax, no exchange controls, light regulation and supervision, less stringent reporting requirements, and less stringent trading restrictions. however, opinions on offshore financial centers are divided. those who are in favor argue that, in the first place,

26、 law-abiding citizens and companies have the right to their financial privacy, because unnecessary and excessive financial disclosure requirements may hurt the companies ability to compete. in their opinion, low or zero taxation, moderate financial regulation and banking confidentiality characterize

27、d by offshore financial centers can prompt national governments to evaluate and reform their own tax and regulatory policies. secondly, reputable offshore financial centers play a legitimate and integral role in international finance and trade, allowing legitimate risk management and financial plann

28、ing. 4 in addition, offshore finance can offer a helpful economic activity to countries which are limited in population size and natural resources. it is not a coincidence that many offshore centers are either small countries such as luxemburg, switzerland, monaco and liechtenstein in continental eu

29、rope, or small islands such as hong kong in asia, isle of man in europe, and gibraltar in the middle east. offshore finance enables these countries or regions to use their own comparative advantage in location and human capital. still another economic factor that is often found in offshore financial

30、 centers is tourism. for instance, caribbean offshore financial centers, such as anguilla, aruba, and the cayman islands, combine “sun and sand” with international banking. on the other hand, critics argue that a lack of transparency in offshore financial centers is being used in illegal tax evasion

31、. they cite numerous companies and individuals who have intentionally evaded the payment of taxes. loss of tax revenues for a government means a reduced ability to pay for public services, ranging from national security to adequate funding for primary education and basic health care. moreover, offsh

32、ore financial centers facilitate money laundering, capital flight, and even the financing of terrorism due to insufficient regulation. regardless of how people look at them, offshore financial centers will continue to grow for some time before changes occur. now, can you answer this question: why di

33、d james bond movies take place in the bahamas or switzerland? stage 5 testing 1: multiple-choice questions you will hear 10 questions about the information you heard in the lecture. each question will be spoken one time only, and it will not be written out for you. you must listen very carefully to

34、each question. after hearing a question, you must read the four possible answer choices provided and then refer to your notes and select (a), (b), (c) or (d) whichever is the best choice. 1. why did james bond movies take place in the bahamas or switzerland? (d) 2. which of the following statements

35、is true according to the lecture? (c) 3. which of the following places became truly an offshore financial center until the 1980s? (b) 4. which of the following places was the earliest offshore center in latin america? (b) 5. what happened in the 1970s? (a) 6. which of the following descriptions is n

36、ot characteristic of an offshore center? (d) 7. what financial services can a subsidiary based in an offshore center provide to its parent? (c) 8. what are the proponents of offshore financial centers most likely to advise governments to do? (a) 9. which of the following offshore center groups belon

37、gs to the category of small countries? (b) 10. why do critics oppose offshore financial centers? (d) stage 5 testing 2: true-false statements in this part of the test, you will read ten statements about the information presented in the lecture. first read the statement carefully. then check your not

38、es to decide whether the 5 statement is true or false. if it is true, write a t in the blank space before the statement; if it is false, write an f in the blank. 1 (f); 2 (f); 3 (f); 4 (t); 5 (t); 6 (f); 7 (t); 8 (f); 9 (t); 10 (t) stage 7 expanded reading in this stage you are expected to broaden y

39、our horizon into the topic of the lecture. please read the following article carefully. 參考譯文：資本外逃：稅負(fù)倒置能否遏制？2014年 9 月 9 日，召開了摩根斯丹利全球醫(yī)療保健大會(huì)。會(huì)上，默克公司首席執(zhí)行官肯?弗雷澤向投資者表示，對(duì)于近期美國企業(yè)為逃避國內(nèi)高額稅負(fù)，紛紛并購海外企業(yè)、將總部外遷的做法，默克公司不會(huì)跟風(fēng)。弗雷澤指出，這種被稱為“ 稅負(fù)倒置 ” 的行為，有背于默克公司的政策， 即并購的唯一理由就是能給公司帶來“ 高質(zhì)量的商業(yè)渠道與高質(zhì)量的科研渠道 ” 。弗雷澤還說： “ 我們并不認(rèn)為，通過

40、稅負(fù)倒置帶來的優(yōu)勢(shì)能夠長(zhǎng)久持續(xù)。我認(rèn)為美國政府一定會(huì)針對(duì)資本外逃行為，采取正面或負(fù)面的措施。”這一預(yù)言頗為大膽，盡管華府官員確實(shí)對(duì)近期所有的跨境并購案大為光火。制藥企業(yè)一直都很熱衷于并購，例如伊利諾斯州的雅培生命公司收購了夏爾制藥公司、密歇根州的百利高收購了伊蘭，以及新澤西州的阿特維斯吞并了華納齊爾考特。這三起收購的對(duì)象都是愛爾蘭企業(yè)。 近期，輝瑞公司雖然試圖以1180億美元收購英國藥業(yè)巨頭阿斯特拉捷利康，但并購企圖流產(chǎn)。很多分析人士認(rèn)為，他們一定會(huì)再次嘗試，并紛紛預(yù)言，這家曾經(jīng)令紐約驕傲的公司有朝一日或許會(huì)易主倫敦。為什么這些企業(yè)心急火燎地逃離美國？沃頓商學(xué)院商業(yè)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)及公共政策學(xué)教授肯特?

41、斯麥特爾斯一言以蔽之：美國的公司所得稅率，即35%的聯(lián)邦稅加上各州的平均稅率，已經(jīng)高達(dá) 39%。這在經(jīng)濟(jì)合作與發(fā)展組織國家中位居第一，也遠(yuǎn)高于經(jīng)合組織國家平均26%的水平。此外，美國還遵循“ 全球” 征稅制，即美國的企業(yè)無論在哪里獲得利潤(rùn)，都必須在美國承擔(dān)高課稅。美國企業(yè)不僅要向本國政府繳稅，只要他們?cè)趪庥杏?，還要向外國政府納稅。斯麥特爾斯認(rèn)為，雖然美國政府針對(duì)海外盈利納稅給予獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)，但美國企業(yè)仍然處于劣勢(shì)。他說: “ 當(dāng)美國企業(yè)在別國投資中間產(chǎn)品時(shí)，它們要 比競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手面臨更高的稅率。 這種情況促使海外的子公司遲遲不愿向美國母公司如實(shí)上報(bào)海外獲利?！睗h堡王計(jì)劃斥資 110億美元，收購加拿大甜甜圈連鎖品牌蒂姆? 霍頓，從類似的案例可以看出，制藥企業(yè)并不是唯一熱衷于稅負(fù)倒置的公司，但是，大型醫(yī)藥企業(yè)在這類并購交易中享有的優(yōu)勢(shì)依然顯而易見?！?長(zhǎng)期以來，制藥行業(yè)的利潤(rùn)率相比于其它行業(yè)高出很多，因此 稅負(fù)倒置帶來的 好處就更為明顯。 ”沃頓商學(xué)院醫(yī)療管理學(xué)教授馬克 v 保利說?！?而且，制藥企業(yè)對(duì)稅負(fù)倒置成本的控制能力，也