Panama still helps to avoid Spain’s ban on tax havens

Spanish citizens who have salted away large fortunes in tax havens are hoping to avoid a clampdown by their country’s authorities.

Some 1,500 Spanish clients of HSBC in Switzerland have been found to have deposited $7.4 billion in secret accounts. Now many wealthy Spanish are using other havens instead of Switzerland; these include Singapore, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Gibraltar, but especially Panama.

“Many of Spain’s wealthy are opting to move to other jurisdictions, but the Spanish authorities are negotiating accords that will close these jurisdictions as tax havens,” said Brian Leonard, a partner on international fiscal affairs for Deloitte Abogados.

Original source (in Spanish): Expansion