Bermuda - Jobs

Leading global offshore legal, fiduciary and administration service provider Appleby, has today announced a dramatic expansion of its international reach, merging with Dickinson Cruickshank, the largest law firm in the Isle of Man. The firm will continue to be known as Appleby and the merger is to be effective, once all conditions are met, on 1st October, 2009. Appleby is the first global offshore law firm on the island and the move will see Appleby emerge as the offshore law firm with the widest jurisdictional reach, and become the largest offshore law firm by number of partners. The firm will now have 73 partners and 200 lawyers, and a total of over 800 staff in 9 offices worldwide, including Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Jersey, Mauritius, Hong Kong, London, Zurich and the Isle of Man.

Dickinson Cruickshank is the largest and one of the longest established firms of advocates on the Isle of Man. Founded in 1899, it is now one of the two dominant law firms on the island with 11 partners, 27 other lawyers, 17 fiduciary service providers and a total staff of 119. It is a full service firm practicing Isle of Man law with a specific focus on corporate and commercial, private client, dispute resolution, property and fiduciary services. The firm is consistently in the top ranking in the major international legal directories and has twice been nominated as “Offshore law firm of the Year”.

Commenting on the merger, Paul Morris, Dickinson Cruickshank’s Senior Partner said: “We believe that the merger with Appleby, as a global offshore services provider, is not only a first on the island and an invaluable resource for our clients, but it will also provide a huge boost to the Isle of Man’s capabilities, status and reputation in the international offshore sector. Appleby’s global reach in the key offshore jurisdictions, its recent expansion through Mauritius into the emerging markets in India, Africa and Asia, and its market leading position in international financial centres, will have a significant impact on the breadth, range and choice of services we are able to offer to our Isle of Man and international clients.”

Peter Bubenzer, Appleby’s Global Group Managing Partner added: “The opportunity to merge with a firm of the size and quality of Dickinson Cruickshank was compelling for us. The firm’s focus on their clients’ needs and, as the offshore sector evolves, their recognition of the value to clients of truly global resources, as well as a choice of jurisdictions and structures, mirrors our own strategic thinking. The merger will position us as the leading provider of legal, fiduciary and administration services across the offshore world. Our entry into the Manx market further builds our strength and depth across multiple jurisdictions — providing greater resources and greater choice to our clients. In addition, Dickinson Cruickshank’s London presence will strengthen our offering in the UK market. The merger will provide both firms’ corporate, institutional and private clients with greater resources across the locations and time zones in which they do business and a broader choice of structures and jurisdictions, unmatched by any other offshore firm. We believe that the move will reinforce Appleby’s position as the first choice for clients in the offshore sector.”

The merger will enable Appleby to further extend the services it offers to global clients seeking high quality, sophisticated financial centres through which to invest. It follows the firm’s successful opening in Mauritius in 2008, providing clients with greater access to the high growth Middle East, Asian, Indian and African markets, and in Zurich in 2009, offering access to the range of offshore centres to private bank and institutional clients in Switzerland.

Appleby first ventured out from its Bermuda origins in 1979, with the establishment of a Guernsey office for administration clients, and this latest merger is part of a thirty year development of the firm. The firm has expanded rapidly in the last three years and now has a legal and professional staff of approximately 800. It is the only offshore legal, fiduciary and administration service provider with a major foothold in six of the world’s leading offshore business centres in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Jersey, Mauritius and now Isle of Man, as well as offices in London, Hong Kong and Switzerland.

Bermuda was removed from OECD’s grey list of tax havens yesterday. The change was made after the island signed an agreement with the Netherlands to share tax information.

The tax treaty was Bermuda’s 12th Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TEIA). Signing it ensured the island crossed the threshold for inclusion in the list of countries that have substantially implemented the OECD’s requirement in this area.

Bermuda is the first country to be removed from the grey list. It is expected to sign more tax treaties with more OECD countries in the near future.

Bermuda has been placed on a ‘grey list’ of countries that need to substantially implement an internationally agreed tax standard.

The list was published at the end of the G20 meeting in London by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The ‘grey list’ comprised countries that had not signed Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with at least 12 other countries.

Bermuda currently only has TIEAs with the US, UK, and Australia.

The island did, however, avoid being blacklisted and not committed to an internationally agreed tax standard.

The blacklisted countries were Malaysia, Costa Rica, Philippines, and Uruguay.

The other countries on the ‘grey list’ were Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Montserrat, Nauru, Antilles, Niue, Panama, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Vanuatu.

The Fairmont Southampton resort has announced 35 job losses as the credit crunch begins to hit Bermuda.

Other cost-cutting measures being undertaken by the hotel include closing 50 percent of its guest rooms until April, operating restaurants on a rotational basis until the summer season, and temporarily ceasing its free ferry service to Hamilton.

The Harmony Club in Paget has been purchased by the Bermuda Government from Bermuda Resort Hotels. It will be used to provide accommodation for police recruits from overseas. Bermuda Resort Hotels will use most of the $6.25 million sale proceeds to redevelop one of their other properties, the Surf Side Beach Hotel.

Home Affairs Minister David Burch has announced that 4,000 incomplete work permit applications are to be returned to employers. Addressing the Senate he said that too many applications are being submitted without the correct documentation, resulting in lengthy delays. He expects that the move will lead to correct applications being processed in a timely manner.

Foreign workers from non-English speaking countries will shortly have to pass an English language test to remain in Bermuda. Derrick Burgess, Minister of Labour and Immigration, told the House of Assembly last week he was concerned that many Bermudians had complained that many restaurants were employing waiters who couldn’t speak English and brought incorrect dishes.

Another foreigner has been kicked out of Bermuda after a dispute involving a government MP. Canadian building contractor Curtis Macleod will leave the island on Monday after an argument with Warwick North Central MP George Scott led to his work permit being revoked. In December Australian chef Anthony Reynolds was forced to leave after making a joke about poisoning Premier Ewart Brown.

The fragile nature of a Bermuda work permit was clearly illustrated this week after a top chef was booted off the island. Australian Anthony Reynolds, Executive Chef at the Elbow Beach Hotel, made a joke last week about putting arsenic in the meal of Premier Ewart Brown while the leader was dining at the hotel. A complaint was made by a member of staff to the Department of Immigration and shortly after the chef was forced to tender his resignation.

Immigration officials arrived at Mr Reynolds’ apartment on Wednesday and escorted him to the airport. Immigration Minister Derrick Burgess described the incident as ‘tantamount to threatening an act of terrorism, a criminal act of a most heinous nature.’ He went on to say, ‘Such behaviour will not be tolerated by this Government administration, least of all from a guest worker in this country and particularly from someone who, as purportedly responsible as an Executive Chef, was in a position to make good such a threat. No modern democracy post 9/11 would or should, take such threats lightly or in jest.’

Debate on the issue has split the island in two. Most expatriates and many white Bermudians are viewing it as a gross overreaction to an inappropriate joke and an example of Government expatriate bashing. Many within the black community have taken the stance that any threat to the Premier’s life, even if in jest, should be taken seriously.

The World Travel & Tourism Council has opposed the decision of the US Congress to delay the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative to land-based tourism and cruise line passengers, while keeping the January 8 2007 deadline for air passengers.

They estimate the Caribbean region could lose around US $2.6 billion and around 200,000 jobs as a result of the WHTI. Fewer than 30 percent of American citizens have current, valid passports.