This Newsletter is distributed by the Financial Centre Corporation, the private sector promoter of St. Lucia as an offshore centre. It updates you on the latest developments in St. Lucia's offshore industry, and will be published quarterly.

Tax concession: the Government of St. Lucia announced in April in the presentation of the 2001/2002 budget, that tax concessions will be provided to trust companies/registered agents licensed to do business in St. Lucia. While details of the scheme have not been disclosed we understand that the incentives will be for a period of ten years.

Fees: The regulations for all international financial services laws have been amended to pro rate the annual fees and to allow for a single renewal date of January 1. For IBC's this is particularly attractive as the quarterly pro rating should encourage redomiciliation towards the end of the year rather than early in the following year, as has been the norm.

IBC-LLC Flexibility: More and more interest is being shown in using St. Lucian IBC's for check the box elections under the US tax laws. This obviates the need to have separate LLC legislation, as the LLC flexibility is available in any St. Lucian IBC.

Trust Act: The Trust Act has been reviewed and the changes are expected to be enacted later this year. The thrust of the changes is to make the registration and administration process simpler while maintaining the asset protection advantages.

St. Lucia has completed the process and met the membership requirements to establish a branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. The branch is being coordinated by Lisle Chase, CEO of the Financial Centre Corporation (FCC). It is anticipated that the branch will be active, providing avenues for greater exposure and training for members, the majority of who are registered agents.

Online Registry: the online registry has been improved and will allow potential overseas agents to apply online to be associated with a registered agent. Continuous enhancements are expected through the year.
The registered agents and potential overseas are very receptive to the idea and have found that it makes the incorporation process extremely simple and fast.

First Offshore Bank License: The first offshore bank license was granted in March 2001 to Bank Crozier. The Bank is in the process of preparing its offices and is expected start operating in July 2001.

Insurance companies: insurance has been identified as a niche area for St. Lucia. The legislation for this product is very flexible and allows captives companies to be established. The annual fees are amongst the lowest in the industry and the professional service infrastructure is rapidly developing. There are already three Insurance companies licensed in St. Lucia, and five applications presented to the regulatory department for approval.

QJ status: Ernst & Young were retained in January 2001 by the Government of St. Lucia to prepare and submit St. Lucia's application for Qualified Jurisdiction status (QJ) to the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The application was approved and confirmation of this received in June 2001.

Conferences upcoming: FCC will promote St. Lucia at many other conferences during 2001 including Berlin, Colorado, Hong Kong, Vermont, and Miami.

Promotional trips: FCC is planning to visit professionals later this year in North America, Hong Kong, Europe and South America to present the advantages and the unique strategy of the jurisdiction.

Europe: a recent marketing trip to Europe had very positive results. Many medium sized and small service providers in reputable centers were keen to relocate from jurisdictions that were no longer suitable to their client needs or appeared to have credibility problems. The speed of the online registry was found to be very attractive to many and it is felt that re-domiciliations from other offshore centers will continue to increase.

Offshore Institute chair in the Caribbean: St. Lucian delegates expressed the need for the creation of a Caribbean chair for the Offshore Institute. The coordination of this effort has been assigned to a member from St. Lucia and is expected to be achieved by the end of the year. It was felt necessary to have such a Chair as the region is a significant player in the international industry both in terms of numbers and wealth.

If you have any questions, comments please feel free to send them to enquiries@pinnaclestlucia.com

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