*by Dr. Johannes Fiala, Lawyer (Munich), Mediator (Univ.), MBA Financial Services (Univ.Wales), MM (Univ.), Certified Financial and Investment Advisor (A.F.A.), Lecturer for Civil and Insurance Law (BA Heidenheim, Univ. of Cooperative Education), Banker (www.fiala.de)
International terrorism is certainly a reason to take a closer look at money laundering. But many wealthy private clients and their asset managers were surprised when their entire client assets were simply confiscated. The culmination of such consequences are provisions enacted under the patriot act. Whoever as a foreigner (from the US point of view) had not submitted the W8BEN form to the broker by the end of 2005 for his account and custody account with an American broker, his account and custody account were transferred in their entirety (!) as advance tax to the US tax office (IRS). This then effectively ended asset management. Since then, the owner could fight to get his money and deposit values back. A laborious undertaking, as practice shows. Credit institutions also reacted: Under the headline “Templeton Growth Fund – no purchases possible for WKN 971025”, a renowned credit institution reported the following decision: “Due to a recently enacted US regulation (Rule 22c-2), which obliges financial intermediaries to disclose customer data, we have decided to exclude the above-mentioned tranche of the fund from purchase. Alternatively, however, the Templeton Growth (Euro) Fund tranche with the securities identification number 941034, which has been available since 2000, can be purchased. This is a mirror fund issued in Luxembourg. The fund management uses the same strategy as for the US tranche. However, identical mapping is not possible due to the difference in size.” What now remains for the asset manager is to consider where he will manage the accounts for his clients in the future. For wealthy private clients, the question arises with which partners in which countries future business can be conducted without such “impediments”.
(experten.de (28.08.2006))
Courtesy ofwww.experten.de.
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Dr. Johannes FialaPhD, MBA, MM
Dr. Johannes Fiala has been working for more than 25 years as a lawyer and attorney with his own law firm in Munich. He is intensively involved in real estate, financial law, tax and insurance law. The numerous stages of his professional career enable him to provide his clients with comprehensive advice and to act as a lawyer in the event of disputes.
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