Butterfield meets FATCA deadline

The Bank of Butterfield announced it has met the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Chairman and CEO Brendan McDonagh said FATCA is a US federal law that requires US persons to report their financial accounts held outside of the US and require foreign institutions, such as banks, to report to the Internal revenue Service about their US clients.

He said in a release: “Since Bermuda and the Cayman Islands announced their intention to sign FATCA agreements with the United States some 14 months ago, Butterfield has devoted significant time and resources to developing an effective set of procedures and systems to enable us to be fully compliant with FATCA’s requirements.  

“Today, I am pleased to report that we now have in place the necessary elements to comply with the FATCA reporting and implementation agreements in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands effective as of the June 30th deadline.  The implementation of FATCA is an important step in the ongoing process of improving transparency in international financial services centres, which will only serve to benefit our industry.

“FATCA will provide an effective framework for our institutions and regulators to better interact with United States authorities and aid all parties in preventing improper account behaviour and removing the barriers to identifying non-compliant accountholders.

 “FATCA implementation is an important milestone for both Bermuda and Cayman.  Butterfield has also encouraged further measures aimed at modernising existing privacy laws to further enhance transparency in these jurisdictions and we would welcome the adoption of the necessary legislation to bring about those changes.”

Editor’s note: In accordance with Media Council transparency rules, Don Burgess is a shareholder in the Bank of Butterfield.