Thursday, 23 May 2013

Investment Information

The Turks & Caicos offer a number of advantages for savvy investors:

• English speaking,
• close proximity to the United States,
• direct flights,
• US currency,
• based on English common law,
• stable government,
• NO income, estate, corporate, real estate TAX

…these are a few reasons the Turks and Caicos are attracting tourists and investors from all over the world.

Political Climate:
The Turks and Caicos Islands are officially English speaking with a population close to 30,000 people made up of both "Belongers" (citizens) and Expatriates. The official currency is the US Dollar.

Presently, the Turks and Caicos Islands is an internal-governing Overseas Territory with a ministerial system of government. The country operates from the 2006 constitution which provides for a Governor appointed by HM the Queen, an Executive Council and a Legislative Council.

The Governor is responsible for external affairs, defense, internal security, offshore finance and certain other matters, but is otherwise normally required to act on the advice of the Executive Council.

The Executive Council deals with the affairs of the Government. It is presided over by His Excellency the Governor and is made up of the elected Ministers of Government. The Legislative Council is responsible for the passage of laws, monitoring Government policies and bringing to account the Executive Branch on behalf of the electorate.

Under this structure the Turks and Caicos enjoys a stable government guided by British Law. The Government is pro-development but is taking a responsible approach by learning from the experiences of other West Indies neighbours. Tourism is the number one industry with Offshore Financial services coming in second and growing.

Investment Climate:
Traditionally the investment opportunities in Turks and Caicos have been based in real estate as witnessed by the recent high-end condo developments springing up along 12 mile Grace Bay Beach on Providenciales. As more people become familiar and comfortable with this country as a viable investment centre, opportunities for offshore investment structures and funds have become popular.

Part of this attraction is a well defined regulatory framework within which to operate a comprehensive range of financial activities including banking, insurance, trusts, mutual funds, investment dealing, companies and partnerships. TCI's modern legislation is complemented by an experienced professional infrastructure in the public and private sectors.

The Turks and Caicos Islands provide a full range of international banking and trust services. There are many licensed entities that carry out banking business, five licensed to carry out domestic and international services from within the islands. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) embodies in a single agency all regulatory aspects of the financial services industry. The FSC is responsible for licensing and supervising all finance-related operating entities to internationally accepted standards. The FSC also provides a centralised and cost-effective service for registering companies, partnerships, trademarks and patents in TCI.

Recently the Financial Services Commission introduced legislation to regulate Mutual Funds.This legislation provides for mutual funds to be established in the islands and also for mutual funds constituted under the laws of a foreign country to be licensed in the islands as 'recognised mutual funds'.

As well, Investment Dealers legislation was recently introduced which provides for persons to be licensed as a fund manager, investment adviser or investment dealer.

Provided by Temple Financial Group