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Thursday, 24 September 2020
Chancellor confirms Covid-19 salary top-up scheme
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has confirmed a salary top-up scheme designed to minimise job losses over the next six months will be introduced on 1November as tighter Covid-19 restrictions remain in place.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Sunak outlined the Job Support Scheme and more financial help for businesses this lunchtime (24 September).
Sunak said the resurgence of coronavirus posed a "threat to the fragile economic recovery" and protecting jobs was the government's priority through the "difficult winter months".
All small and medium-sized businesses will be given the option to cut staff hours and pay with the government and employers paying part of the lost wages. Large businesses will be eligible if their turnover has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sunak said employees will work shorter hours rather than being made redundant. Employees must work at least a third of their contracted hours under the scheme. For the remaining hours, the government and employer will pay a third of the wages each.
This means an employee working 33% of their hours would get 77% of their salary. He said the plan would " support viable jobs".
From 1 November, for the next six months, the Job Support Scheme will protect viable jobs in businesses who are facing lower demand over the winter months due to Covid-19. pic.twitter.com/8NpIKpQV8y
— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) September 24, 2020
The measures are needed as the second wave of Covid-19 sweeps the country. Boris Johnson introduced tighter restrictions on public life as a result.
These include pubs and restaurants having to close at 10pm from today (24 September).
The furlough scheme introduced to prevent mass-redundancies at the start of lockdown in March is set to expire next month. Millions of workers are still receiving part of their salary through the scheme.
Elsewhere, the self-employed will also be offered continued support on similar terms to the salary top-up scheme.
He also outlined a "pay as you grow" scheme for businesses which took government guaranteed loans during the crisis. pandemic. Sunak said: "Loans can now be extended from six to ten years nearly halving the average monthly repayment."
by Tanya at http://www.ifajobs.net
Zurich Middle East launches DEWS app for UAE end-of-service
Zurich Workplace Solutions (Middle East) Limited has teamed up with Smart, the organisation that powers the Smart Pension Mastertrust in the UK, a global technology provider transforming financial well- being across all generations, to launch the Zurich for DEWS app in the UAE.
The app, developed by Smart and fully customised for DEWS, the Dubai Internationall Financial Centre (DIFC) Employee Workplace Savings scheme, provides members with a simple, quick and hassle-free digital way to manage their workplace savings accounts.
Along with creating much-needed transparency over these investments, the app responds to emerging appetite for contactless solutions and seamless experience across multiple channels.
Zurich Middle East said key features for members using the app include:
- Access to their DEWS account from anywhere, at anytime
- Ability to see their latest account value, contribution history and monitor their investments
- Ability to manage their investments and switch their strategies to suit their risk appetite
- Facility to nominate beneficiaries
"When we launched the DEWS plan, we had made a commitment to continually enhance our service offering such that employers and members find the day-to-day interactions easy, intuitive and hassle-free. We want to take away some of the barriers that detract people from making regular savings, and help our members prepare for a secure financial future. The Zurich for DEWS app is the next step in that journey towards financial freedom," said Reena Vivek, senior executive officer at Zurich Workplace Solutions (Middle East) Limited.
Will Wynne, group MD at Smart added, "This partnership really illustrates what's now possible in retirement technology and we are immensely proud of the end result. It's the first of its kind and was created to provide a smooth and simple customer journey, while simultaneously bringing long term savings into the 21st century."
The DIFC's DEWS plan ensures that all contributions by the employer are held in a trust with the Master Trustee, Equiom, on behalf of the employees, and is fully paid out when the employee leaves the employer. That protection is extended to the historical accrued gratuity pots, if these were transferred into the plan, Zurich said.
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by Tanya at http://www.ifajobs.net
Swiss watchdog censures Bank SYZ over money laundering rules
Swiss financial market supervisor FINMA reprimanded private Bank SYZ for failing in its duties to root out anti-money laundering in a high-profile case of an Angolan client.
"FINMA found that the bank did not make sufficient efforts to investigate the substantial growth in the client's assets," the watchdog said in a statement, adding it had also failed to clarify the client's high-risk transactions. "The bank did not adequately resolve issues that should have raised suspicions."
FINMA noted the Geneva-based wealth manager had reported suspicions, which enabled criminal prosecutors to investigate the Angolan case. The regulator did not name the client, who has previously been reported as Carlos Manuel de São Vicente, a politically connected Angolan-Portuguese businessman, as finews writes.
Switzerland's public prosecutors froze seven accounts of Carlos Manuel de São Vicente and family members in December 2018 on suspicions of money laundering, according to news website Gotham City, which first reported the news. At nearly $900m it was one of the largest amounts of money frozen by the Alpine nation.
Bank SYZ said it had taken a number of measures to improve the systems it had in place.
"The bank attaches the utmost importance to compliance with its anti-money laundering obligations," it said in an emailed statement. "Unfortunately, for a specific business relationship, the procedures put in place proved to be inadequate."
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by Tanya at http://www.ifajobs.net
Jersey may broker its own deal with the EU: Brexit
Jersey's External Relations Minister has admitted that the island may see its own deal with the European Union if it feels that the arrangements at the end of the Brexit negotiating period are unsatisfactory.
"Really, for Jersey, there's three options remaining - a thin deal that we say we want to be part of, the UK not negotiating any deal so there's nothing to be part of, or a thin deal that we decide it's not in our interests to be a part of," Senator Ian Gorst said.
Boris Johnson has admitted the UK is currently heading for a no-deal Brexit, with an agreement now "very difficult" as the two sides dig in and refuse to compromise.
No 10 described a deal as only "still possible" - with a strong attack on the EU's failure to give ground.
"An agreement is still possible and this is still our goal, but it is clear it will not be easy to achieve," the prime minister's spokesperson said.
If the UK signed a deal with the EU which was ‘not of benefit' to Jersey, then the Island would seek to have its own conversations with Brussels, the Senator said.
"In this case it might mean that we'd have to change some of our domestic legislation, for example to have a goods-for-goods deal," Senator Ian Gorst said in an interview with the Jersey Evening Post.
‘We might just say, "You know what, this deal is too much for us - we want to maintain our current approach".
Negotiating directly with the EU would require agreement from the UK in the form of an ‘entrustment' to allow the Island to sign its own international treaty.
Although UK government sources are playing down the idea of the UK walking away without a breakthrough, they agree a deal must be struck by the European Council summit in mid-October.
The economic cost of a no-deal Brexit could be two or three times as bad as the impact of Covid, a report has concluded.
Analysis by the London School of Economics and UK in a Changing Europe says "a no-deal Brexit would represent a further major shock to a UK economy" with a "major set of changes" to the economic relationship with the country's largest trading partner.
"Our modelling with LSE of the impact of a no-deal Brexit suggests that the total cost to the UK economy over the longer term will be two to three times as large as that implied by the Bank of England's forecast for the impact of Covid-19," the report said.
JP Morgan Chase & Co is reportedly set to move €200bn (£184bn) assets from the UK to Germany as a result of Brexit.
The US banking giant plans to finish the migration of the assets to a Frankfurt-based subsidiary by the end of this year, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The shift would make JP Morgan Germany's sixth largest lender, based on reported assets of the country's largest banks last year.
Germany's minister of State for Europe, Michael Roth, said: "Please, dear friends in London, stop the games. Time is running out."
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by Tanya at http://www.ifajobs.net
48% increase in number of South Africans enquiring about second citizenship
Global citizenship company Henley & Partners's South Africa office has seen a 48% surge in the number of nationals making enquiries about Citizenship-by-Investment programmes around the globe.
The increased volatility driven by covid-19 is pushing investment migration into overdrive, according to Henley & Partners.
"The tumultuous events of 2020, including the unplanned pause during the great lockdown, have resulted in people from all walks of life re-evaluating their circumstances and reconsidering how they wish to conduct their lives and — for those fortunate enough — choosing where they want to live by opting for investment migration," said managing partner and Head of South, East and Central Africa, Amanda Smit told local news outlet BusinessTech.
"Many are taking stock and ensuring they are better prepared for the next pandemic or major global disruption. The relentless volatility in terms of both wealth and lifestyle has resulted in a significant shift in how alternative residence and citizenship are perceived by high-net-worth investors around the world."
In terms of quarterly growth in the numbers of enquiries between Q1 and Q2 2020, the sharpest rise was seen in Nigeria. Henley & Partners recorded an 185% increase in enquiries from Nigerian citizens between the first two quarters, and increases of 48%, 46%, and 40% from South African, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi nationals, respectively.
South Africa was also seeing a sharp rise in the number of people choosing to emigrate financially in order to cease their tax residency with the country and avoid the expat tax.
South Africans living abroad now have to pay tax on anything above their first R1.25m made outside the country. The rest of their earnings - including all fringe benefits, like housing, education and flight allowances - will now be taxed according to the normal tax tables for the year, which can go up to 45% in some cases.
However, expats who follow shady advice to deregister as taxpayers with Sars will suffer in the long run," Jonty Leon, Legal Manager (Expatriate Tax) at Tax Consulting SA warns.
In terms of the total number of enquiries made in the first six months of 2020, Indian nationals outstripped all other nationalities by a long stretch. Henley & Partners received 96.5% more enquiries from Indian nationals than Nigerian nationals, who were placed second, followed by Pakistan and, startlingly, the US.
"The tumultuous events of 2020, including the unplanned pause during the Great Lockdown, have resulted in people from all walks of life re-evaluating their circumstances and reconsidering how they wish to conduct their lives and — for those fortunate enough — choosing where they want to live by opting for investment migration," said Henley & Partners CEO Dr. Juerg Steffen.
"Many are taking stock and ensuring they are better prepared for the next pandemic or major global disruption. The relentless volatility in terms of both wealth and lifestyle has resulted in a significant shift in how alternative residence and citizenship are perceived by high-net-worth investors around the world," he added.
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