MACAU BUSINESS
nations want to be seen engaging with tax havens amid heightened scrutiny of transparency. Macau Business reported last month that two Portuguese lenders – Banco Português de Investimento and Caixa Geral de Depósitos – had ceased their offshore businesses in the city due to the reputation issue, as maintaining the branches in Macau might prove negative to the banks’ images.
Financing struggles C
urrently, no penalties have been imposed by the EU upon the 17 jurisdictions on the blacklist but the bloc is set to discuss possible
penalties in the coming months, including restricting access to the European Fund for Sustainable Development, stricter monitoring of transactions, and special documentation required. Jacky So Yuk Chow, Dean of the Faculty of
Business Administration at the University of Macau, believes the EU move may have “some adverse impact” upon the city’s recent goal to develop its specialised financial industry, namely the financial leasing segment and the city’s role as a yuan clearing centre for Portuguese-speaking countries. “The blacklist is similar to a credit rating,” the chair professor noted. “I’m concerned about the side effects on the private sector: given that many of the casinos and hotels have huge capital investments in buildings and fixtures, financing from the world markets is very common.”
“If the blacklist announcement also adversely
affects the perception of investors around the world, financing costs for the Macau casino companies and integrated resorts may increase [which] will slow down the growth and domestic investment in Macau,” he opined.
Beijing intervention S
uncity Group, the city’s biggest junket operator, which has ventured into international markets in recent years to
diversify its corporate portfolio, shrugs off any blacklist concerns. Questioned on the subject on a
public occasion in December, Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, Chief Executive of the group, responded tersely: “I’m not concerned it will affect the confidence of international investors.” This magazine also approached Kevin Thompson,
president of the Macau European Chamber of Commerce, for comment on this story without success. An entrepreneur in one of the chambers of EU nations here, speaking on condition of anonymity, is not too worried about the blacklist. “It’s more like a political gesture pressuring Macau to adopt the treaty [Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters],” the entrepreneur noted. “[The central government] will not stand on the sidelines but come forward if the situation continues to escalate – I can see Macau delisting next year [2018].” Questioned about the EU blacklist, a
spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs simply noted in a recent press briefing in Beijing: “The relevant decision made by the EU does not comply with the real situation in Macau.”
N4-110
suzohapp.com
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