Guernsey will sign a Tax Information Exchange Agreement with New Zealand today, bringing the number of TIEAs signed by the Crown Dependency to 14.

The agreement, which will be the twelfth between Guernsey and a member state of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, means that the island will be regarded as having substantially implemented the OECD’s internationally agreed tax standard on exchange of information.

Guernsey has previously signed TIEAs with Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US. These agreements mean that on request Guernsey will exchange bank and other information relating to both criminal and civil tax matters.

“In addition to this agreement with New Zealand, Guernsey is continuing to negotiate the conclusion of TIEAs with many more countries and we will be signing further TIEAs in the coming months,” said Guernsey’s chief minister, Lyndon Trott, in a statement ahead of the ratification of the agreement.

Mr Trott will also sign a political joint declaration aimed at furthering the economic relationship between the governments of New Zealand and Guernsey; as a result of this Guernsey expects to gain legislative recognition in New Zealand, and therefore realise benefits to the island’s finance industry.