Local Banks Express Concern Over Uncooperative Clients

Local banks have expressed concern over the consequences of the decision on calling the uncooperative clients controlled by the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) that contradicts the confidentiality code in dealing with bank information.

These banks sent a letter to the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK), nting out the inaccuracy in collecting data as per the CRS agreement while there is no official instruction in this regard from the Ministry of Finance. They suggested postponing enforcement of the agreement to Nov 1, 2017 instead of April 1, 2017.

They asked the Central Bank to give them the list of countries that signed the agreement and to guide them on the necessary procedures. They inquired about the actions that should be taken in case a client refuses to provide tax information, if these actions include freezing or canceling the client’s bank account.

They suggested merging the selfcertification forms for FATCA and CRS in order to simplify the documents and facilitate procedures for opening a new bank account and renewing the clients’ data. They also stressed the need for the Finance Ministry to classify the clients, specify the excluded accounts and clients from tax evasion.

They demanded for a clear definition of clients who are not individuals (legal bodies) that are subject to the annual report so they could take the relevant procedures accurately. It is worthy to mention that in May 2017, Kuwait signed an agreement with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to be one of the countries which considers the CRS as legal basis for exchanging of information relevant to tax issues. The agreement regulates the exchange of information among members of the Global Transparency Forum.

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