A large number of the UK's big name banking companies are involved in a large scale tax evasion scheme cheating the countries of Europe out of hundreds of millions of Euros each year. Among the main banks and hedge funds involved are Barclays, Capital, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.
Around 85% of the complaints cases made against the bank were taken up with the Financial Ombudsman Service, as opposed to the average for the industry of 72%. Also, 99% of PPI claims against Barclays were found to be in the customers' favour, meaning the bank's reputation is looking shattered. However, Barclays' bank was not alone in its PPI related blunders. Both MBNA Europe Bank and Lloyds TSB also saw 99% of their customer complaints relating to PPI being found in favour of the customer, and Black Horse and Bank of Scotland, which are part of the same banking group as Lloyds TSB, lost 98% of cases. Will they ever learn?
The tax evasion system used is a complex but highly profitable one, as the banks involved can avoid the 15% average tax applied to dividends in the European countries. They do this by lending equities to another institution, but instead of passing them directly, they pass them through a French, Italian or German company first. That institution will then send the equities though various institutions under low or no tax authorities, and then pass the equities back to the original owner via means of a secondary institution under another low or no tax authority.
Sweden's financial services giant, Credit Suisse, is also involved, along with a large number of other international banks and hedge funds. The Bureau has witnessed a Credit Suisse document detailing implementation of dividend arbitrage strategies, and has received confirmation that the bank was an active participant.
Although the methods used by Barclays were not illegal, they were simply exploiting the loopholes; the tax avoidance did go against the voluntary banking code of practice the bank signed. Because of this, Barclays' auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, expressed its concerns about possible rejection of their tax avoidance schemes. Because of these concerns, the bank chose to set aside some funds in case of any issues.
Around 85% of the complaints cases made against the bank were taken up with the Financial Ombudsman Service, as opposed to the average for the industry of 72%. Also, 99% of PPI claims against Barclays were found to be in the customers' favour, meaning the bank's reputation is looking shattered. However, Barclays' bank was not alone in its PPI related blunders. Both MBNA Europe Bank and Lloyds TSB also saw 99% of their customer complaints relating to PPI being found in favour of the customer, and Black Horse and Bank of Scotland, which are part of the same banking group as Lloyds TSB, lost 98% of cases. Will they ever learn?
The tax evasion system used is a complex but highly profitable one, as the banks involved can avoid the 15% average tax applied to dividends in the European countries. They do this by lending equities to another institution, but instead of passing them directly, they pass them through a French, Italian or German company first. That institution will then send the equities though various institutions under low or no tax authorities, and then pass the equities back to the original owner via means of a secondary institution under another low or no tax authority.
Sweden's financial services giant, Credit Suisse, is also involved, along with a large number of other international banks and hedge funds. The Bureau has witnessed a Credit Suisse document detailing implementation of dividend arbitrage strategies, and has received confirmation that the bank was an active participant.
Although the methods used by Barclays were not illegal, they were simply exploiting the loopholes; the tax avoidance did go against the voluntary banking code of practice the bank signed. Because of this, Barclays' auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, expressed its concerns about possible rejection of their tax avoidance schemes. Because of these concerns, the bank chose to set aside some funds in case of any issues.
