Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Standing Committee on Finance #BMO see last Paragraph #Movemymoney #Boycottbanks that are Shaftting Canadian tax payers

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http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1&DocId=6054727&Language=E



Standing Committee on Finance                                   
 




NUMBER 111 
l
1st SESSION 
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41st PARLIAMENT 



EVIDENCE


Thursday, March 21, 2013


[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]

  (0845)  

[English]


    I call this meeting to order. This is meeting number 111 of the Standing Committee on Finance.
 
    Orders of the day are pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), continuing our study of tax evasion and the use of tax havens.
    We're very pleased to have six witnesses before us this morning. From BMO Bank of Montreal, we have vice-president and senior consultant, Mr. Jean Richard.
 
We have from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Mr. Steven Blackburn, vice-president and chief anti-money laundering officer. From HSBC Bank Canada, we have Mr. Scott Bartos, senior vice-president and chief compliance officer. From RBC Royal Bank, we have Mr. Russell Purre, deputy chief anti-money laundering officer. From Scotiabank, we have vice-president Nanci York. From TD Bank Financial Group, we have the head of global anti-money laundering compliance, Carmina Hughes.
 
 
    Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here this morning. We will proceed in the order I introduced you. We'll have each witness present an opening statement of five minutes, and then we'll proceed to members' questions.
 
    We'll begin with Mr. Richard, s'il vous plaît.


[Translation]


 
    Distinguished members of the committee, Mr. Chair, on behalf of BMO Financial Group, I'm pleased to join my colleagues from other financial institutions to assist in your discussion of tax havens and tax evasion. As you know, my colleagues from the other financial institutions mainly focus on this issue from a perspective of Canadian and international compliance.
 
 I offer a different kind of expertise, which concerns our financial institutions wealth management advisory relationship with its individual clients who have domestic, national and sometimes international financial interests.
 
 
    As you have already heard from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the CIBC, and as you will hear from my other colleagues at the table, BMO, just like the other financial institutions, does not advise clients to fraudulently avoid the payment of tax, either in Canada or elsewhere. And of course, just like any other Canadian bank, we have policies and procedures that ensure that our employees comply with both the letter and spirit of the law they are subject to. My colleagues will be able to discuss that with you. That is why we believe it is important to tell you about the services we provide for our clients.
 
 
    First, we are aware that as a financial institution, we must not give our clients legal or tax advice. We recognize that advice of that kind falls exclusively within the realm of the private practice of law and tax consultancy, a practice that is limited to lawyers and accountants. Only law firms and accounting firms may give opinions to their clients, be they private individuals, corporations or public organizations.
 
We therefore never give our clients opinions on legal or tax matters. Our role relates to the management of our clients' high net value estates and focuses on matters relating to their family, protecting their lifestyle, investing for retirement, estate planning, business continuity, and philanthropy.
 
    Our role is limited to identifying their needs and informing them about the difficulties and the rules and the strategies available in their particular situation. For each of these areas, tax issues are an unavoidable corollary to achieving maximum effectiveness.
 
To that extent, our mission is to make sure that our clients are informed about the tax opportunities and risks they encounter and are therefore able to seek out the professional support that will enable them to improve their situation. It is inherent in my responsibilities to ensure that our clients obtain the advice they need in order to achieve their objectives effectively. This means that in my role at BMO, I bring together the knowledge and experience of our teams of experts to provide assistance to the bank's investment advisors, to help them create sound wealth management plans for their clients.
 
 
    BMO's investment advisors don't just look at tax, of course. They draw on our resources, for the exclusive benefit of our clients, by tackling the questions we have described, in order to provide them with an integrated and multidisciplinary wealth management solution. This includes all aspects of managing, protecting and transferring wealth, investment strategy, insurance, estate planning, retirement planning, cash management, planned giving, powers of attorney, trusts and wills.
 
 
    Our information includes the tax aspects. However, they are only incidental to the myriad of supports we offer our clients. We work exclusively within the laws that are in force and within the limits they impose. Our goal is to make sure that our clients are not the victims of bad advice or of the risky or improper use of tax rules. Our aim is always to protect our clients and not put their personal situation at risk, and thus destroy our relationship of trust.
 
    This committee will know of the myriad of excellent programs that are in place to give Canadians the opportunity to be tax efficient within the fiscal policies decided by Parliament. The RRSP, for instance, has long been one of the most successful retirement savings tools ever developed in Canada. There are many other tools that operate alongside it.
 
    BMO Financial Group is a strong supporter of the recent creation of new instruments that have the dual advantage of supporting Canadians who are saving for retirement, through tax relief, while helping to achieve an important social goal: financial security for our fellow Canadians in retirement. New tools such as the tax free savings account, or TFSA, the voluntary retirement savings plan, or VRSP, disability savings plans, and for some time now, education savings plans, have been added to the fiscal tools put in place to help achieve clear public objectives.
 
    The function of our wealth management service is to make sure that our clients take advantage of the opportunities that Canadian tax policies offer and avoid the traps that can be hiding behind the shiny returns or the smoke and mirrors. Our function is to inform them and encourage them to explore the opportunities available to them with their legal and tax advisors.
 

  (0850)  
    At the international level, we also have to ensure that our clients do not fall into traps, whether because of double taxation when they hold assets or property outside Canada, estate taxes on their property if they have heirs who reside outside Canada, or any other complexity that arises when different legislation intersects, whether in relation to the personal nature of liability for tax, the economic basis of tax liability or conflicting rules. International tax advice is intended primarily to avert the dangers of double taxation.
    The same is true for foreign nationals who invest in Canada...




    Mr. Richard, I am going to ask you to finish, please.




    I am at the end, Mr. Chair.
    The same is true for foreign nationals who invest in Canada, who do not want to see the capital they have invested in our economy penalized by the impact of Canadian tax liability on income from Canadian sources, while at the same time being taxed in their country based on citizenship or residence. Our role is therefore to inform our clients and make them aware of the options, within the rules.
    Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, BMO Financial Group is pleased to be here to discuss international taxation questions with you.

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