Ocean Village hosts Gibraltar Finance Centre Annual Conference
Having flung open its doors for both Bwin.party and the KPMG e-Gaming Summit in March, on Thursday 5 May the fourth floor of Leisure Island Business Centre at Ocean Village was once again hosting high profile guests. This time up to 400 delegates occupied the exhibition hall-style space for the Gibraltar Finance Centre Annual Conference with an impressive roll call of speakers.
One of the most rousing speeches came from Chief Minister Peter Caruana. Brian Stevendale, Business and Development Director for Ocean Village, was present, “The Chief Minister conveyed his satisfaction at how hard Gibraltar had worked over the past 15 years to embrace change and to do so ahead of other similarly positioned jurisdictions. He cited Gibraltar’s status on the OECD ‘white list’ alongside names such as the UK, USA and Germany as a key achievement. In place for the future we have business and Government working efficiently together, continually building a solid platform.”
Brian continues, “The Chief Minister was also quick to make reference to World Trade Center Gibraltar emphasising the need for more top quality office space in Gibraltar. Pointing delegates in the direction of the World Trade Center Gibraltar scale model proudly on display in the venue, he said that the project would be good for Gibraltar and for business. He argued that Gibraltar was better placed than other jurisdictions and there was a need for physical infrastructure to help build upon the achievements of the last 15 years.”
After a welcome address from Credit Suisse’s Kerry Blight, Chairman of the Gibraltar Finance Centre Council, other keynote expert speakers at the Conference came from the fields of Funds and Investment, Insurance, Trusts and Estates, Banking and Accountancy.
The financial industry is of course at the forefront for Gibraltar given its status as a recognised mainstream European financial services centre fully integrated into the EU. However, it has a wealth of other key merits to consider. Gibraltar is fully compliant with EU financial services regulation, ‘Passporting’ of financial services has been in place since July 2003, personal tax is capped at a low rate and company tax has just been reduced from 22% to 10%.
The Rock has political and economic stability (5% GDP growth for year-end March 2010), good professional services and communications, an English common law legal system and its geographic location brings an advantageous time zone and proximity to investors and partners for face-to-face meetings. Personal lifestyle is also of a high quality with the marina resort of Ocean Village in particular attracting many high net worth individuals to its award-winning products.
Contact Brian Stevendale, World Trade Center Gibraltar’s Business and Development Director, on telephone 00 350 200 40048 or email brian.stevendale[at]worldtradecenter.gi.
