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biggest bugbear and its possible that we will develop a block of flats and a block of offices for start ups. We are looking around the world for prototypes to enable us to prepare a vision.”
A report is imminent and by 2019 he expected Gibraltar to become “the capital of the world for incubators and accelerators of small business. Just as with our having encouraged eGaming originally, we can do it now for small businesses.”
Streamline immigration
In the opinion of Mike Nicholls, Chestertons (Gibraltar) Estate Agency managing director, “the financial technology sector (FinTech) is of specific interest to Gibraltar as it is in rapid growth mode worldwide and transcends our two main industries, gaming and finance”. Those businesses generally are start-ups founded to create new automated financial systems
“We need to streamline our processes for immigration of key workers... and we need to market our fiscal incentives much better than currently. Post Brexit, we cannot afford to be a hidden secret”, he maintained.
Becoming a centre for businesses jurisdictions and I would expect political involved with Bitcoin, a digital electronic approval to be given in November” A second
currency and payment network gaining popularity, is another target area and a regulatory regime is being developed with the Financial Services Commission, which, Isola said, would be implemented before year-end.
Switzerland, which is probably the second largest introducer of business after the UK, has long been a target area for Gibraltar financial services and hosts an annual Gibraltar Day. In September, Isola led a team to Zurich that met 100 professionals in funds, asset management and private client work. “It was important we went to signal that it’s business as usual and there remains an awful lot of interest”.
Gibraltar’s long-awaited first Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) is also imminent. “We have pretty much now got a DTA wrapped up, which is in the new format – the one we are finalising is a post-BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting) DTA, which with OECD initiatives, I think it fair to say will be the way forward for all countries now”, Minister Isola revealed. “It has now been signed off at a technical level by both
proposed DTA forms part of Gibraltar’s Brexit negotiations with the UK.
He set aside thoughts of expanding the marketing team to promote the ‘gateway’ approach. “We need to take a step back and have a look at where we want to progress and then have a serious dis- cussion on how, which includes other product lines, business environ- ment, regulatory and tax, and a proper marketing platform; that could mean a bigger role for Gibraltar Finance.
“We hope early next year we will know what we want to do and changes we want to make with a short timescale thereafter to make those changes. I would hope that by the time the UK initiates Article 50 [triggering with the EU the UK Brexit process] at the end of the first quarter of 2017 we will be out and about.”
Ray Spencer
No more a “hidden secret’, says Mike Nicholls, Chestertons managing director
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