CONFERENCE PREVIEW: Succession, Cross-Border Tax And Trusts Under Spotlight In Geneva

Moves to create a supposed level playing field for succession issues in Europe, along with more established themes around automatic exchange of information and US extra-territorial tax powers make their appearance in a major Geneva-based conference later in April.

Figures from the world of wealth management will gather at the Hotel President Wilson in the Swiss city for a conference organised by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, or STEP, on 27 April. This publication will be as an official media partner at the event to cover the sessions and catch up on the latest thinking around these subjects.

“The trust industry is probably one of the most demanding. Operational efficiency, regulatory pressures and now transparency – these are more than crucial. How can we make our services not just safer, but smarter and in line with new international standards? The 16th edition of the STEP Geneva conference intends to provide valuable knowledge from leading experts, including from the Swiss government,” David Wilson, STEP chairman in Geneva, said.

“We made sure that this year’s content enables participants to navigate their way through the new maze of global regulations, across the straits of automatic exchange of information and around the reefs of the new Succession Directive,” Wilson added.

The event kicks off in the morning with a session entitled “Regulation, Privacy and Freedom”, by Paul Papadimitriou, founder of Intelligencr UK. Papadimitriou is a management consultant and “digital futurist” who looks at how new technologies affecting the world.

The next session are around the issue of European Union succession regulation, both to examine the technical fine print, led by Gian Paolo Romano, professor of law at the University of Geneva, and a panel discussion featuring Professor Romano and Richard Frimston. Frimston is a partner and head of the private client team at Russell-Cooke LLP and is a chair of STEP’s European Union Committee.

During the afternoon, there is a session around automatic exchange of information agreements (AEI), with a talk on “AEI – The Brazilian Perspective – A View From Outside The OECD”, by Alessandro Amadeu da Fonseca, who is Adjunct Professor, Universidade Candido Mendes, and tax partner at Mattos Filho. Another session is called “Automatic Exchange of Information – Impact on Swiss Trustees and Fiduciaries, with Dominik Scherrer, Swiss State Secretariat for International Financial Matters.

No major wealth structuring and trusts-related conference today can pass without at least touching the on the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, and this event is no exception, with a session called “FATCA – An Update On Trusts, led by Adam Jaguciewicz, director of tax and legal services for Deloitte.

The event is rounded off by a session called “FATF: The New Rules For Switzerland”, with Natacha Polli, of Paz Consultants.