Regulation
The Isle of Man has earned a reputation for regulatory regimes which meet all current international standards, but which offer a flexible and non-bureaucratic approach.
The Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission is an independent statutory body which provides regulation and investor protection in relation to banking, investment business, fund management, corporate service providers and the financial services sector. The Commission is also responsible for the Companies Registry which incorporates companies and registers documents required to be filed under the Companies Acts and related legislation. For insurance companies, the Insurance and Pensions Authority is the relevant supervisory body.
As an international financial centre, the Isle of Man Government is conscious that overly restrictive regulation and excessive bureaucracy would make the Island an uncompetitive place in which to do business. Its approach is to seek to maintain a level playing field with other jurisdictions, consistent with the adoption of sound principles of depositor and investor protection.
The Island was the first territory to be designated by the United Kingdom Government under the Financial Services Act 1986 and, following the Edwards Report in 1998, the Island continues to receive broad recognition of its high regulatory standards.
The 2000 Financial Stability Forum's report on offshore financial centres and their effect on global financial stability rated the Isle of Man as having good supervisory practices and levels of co-operation and placed it in the first division of offshore centres, along with jurisdictions such as Hong Kong and Singapore and ahead of jurisdictions such as Jersey, Guernsey, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
Recognition of the comprehensive steps taken by the Isle of Man to combat money laundering was given by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in its review of the world-wide effectiveness of anti-money laundering measures published in June 2001. The Isle of Man's compliance with, and commitment to, international standards in relation to fiscal transparency and exchange of information and cross-border co-operation means that the Isle of Man will not be placed on the OECD's black list of tax havens.
The Island's positive image has been further reinforced by Moody's and Standard & Poor's "AAA" accreditation. |
