Ensuring Bermuda climbs onto the 'white list' of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is critical to the Island's economic future.

Organising the tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) that will allow Bermuda to shed the label of 'tax haven' is a task entrusted to the Finance Ministry's Treaty Unit, a group of four civil servants who have worked diligently to ensure that the job has been done.

The team, led by Assistant Financial Secretary (Treaties) Wayne Brown, with the help of legal counsel from the Attorney General's chambers, has successfully concluded 15 TIEAs — three more than the OECD's minimum requirement to qualify for the 'white list' of countries deemed to have implemented international tax transparency standards.

Yesterday Mr. Brown, Treaty Advisor Laura Semos and Treaty Research Officer Dennis Simons explained that the work will not stop there. More treaties will be sought with countries including France, which contacted the Ministry and requested to start negotiating.

While the Ministry has its own list of TIEA target countries with which an agreement would best serve the national interest, it also consults with the private sector to see which TIEAs would be most beneficial to businesses.

Unit members gave their take on events leading up to April 2, the day of the G20 Summit in London, when leaders of the world's most powerful economies declared their intention to clamp down on tax havens — and also the day that Bermuda was placed on the OECD 'grey list', under the heading of 'tax havens'.

Mr. Brown said the adjustment of the rules that led to British Crown Dependencies Guernsey and Jersey being admitted to the white list, amounted to 'gerrymandering' — a term associated with the redrawing of constituency boundaries for electoral gain.

Rules had been changed from the standard of 12 TIEAs with OECD countries to 12 with any countries, Mr. Brown said — apparently on April 2, hours before the list came out.

And he responded to criticism from leading OECD official Jeffrey Owens and Opposition MPs that the Island's grey listing was the result of not doing enough since committing to OECD standards in 2000.

"I think it's unfair to suggest that Bermuda has taken too long to negotiate tax treaties," Mr. Brown said. "There are people who say that we haven't done enough. But if you look at the number of tax treaties agreed by other small jurisdictions as at April 2, then we were progressing at a similar pace.

"Jersey and Guernsey had 13, the Isle of Man 14 and Bermuda had 12 on a concluded-negotiations basis."

The difference was that counterparties had signed with the other islands, while Bermuda was still waiting for signatures to seal nine TIEAs. While Bermuda was ready to sign them all, the other sides had to ratify the treaties through their Parliaments, Mr. Brown explained.

Mr. Brown formerly worked for one of the world's leading insurance and reinsurance brokerages, Arthur J Gallagher & Co., where his work included negotiation of reinsurance treaties. His colleague Ms Semos was a policy adviser for the Canadian Government, while Mr. Simons took up his post a month ago, having moved from Butterfield Bank.

Ms Semos said there had been talk of a 12 TIEAs standard since early 2008, but the figure had never been ratified by the OECD's Global Forum, which is expected to meet later this year.

"It was not supposed to be just about a number — it's much more complex than that," Ms Semos said. Bermuda had assessed well for exchange of information, banking rules and trusts and partnerships, for example, and the OECD had led the Island to believe it was among the jurisdictions making the most rapid progress towards international standards.

"All of that got dropped with the political pressure at the time of the G20, when it was all brought down to numbers and lists," Ms Semos said. "That makes better headlines and reads easier, but it does not reflect what was going on in the different jurisdictions."

Bermuda had always promoted itself as "a quality jurisdiction", she added, with the necessary regulation and institutions to achieve that.

Mr. Brown pointed out that the OECD's focus on numbers missed reference to important differences between the jurisdictions. For example, the Seychelles, which is on the 'white list', still permits bearer shares, which allow for anonymous ownership of companies.

Treaties generally take around a year to realise, from first contact to signing, Ms Semos said. The process was becoming easier with experience for the Treaty Unit, she added.

"Each agreement is personalised and we try to negotiate whatever benefits for Bermuda we can," Ms Semos said. "These are not cookie cutter agreements."

The latest TIEA negotiation to be concluded was with Canada. One important spin-off benefit will allow subsidiaries of Canadian companies to send back dividends to Canada without them being taxed there. Normally only countries that have a double-tax treaty with Canada — such as Barbados — enjoy this benefit.