Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the Organisation For Economic and Co-operation Centre for Tax Policy and Administration recently met in Paris with senior officials from Labuan IBFC. The OECD has been pushing to enhance tax transparency practices within the world's international financial centres.

"The OECD Centre's continued endorsement is important for Labuan IBFC in its ambition to be the International Financial and Business Centre for ASEAN and the Asia Pacific," Danial Mah Abdullah, deputy director general of Labuan Financial Services Authority, said in a statement yesterday.

"To reflect its enhanced supervisory framework and compliance with internationally agreed standards and best practices, Labuan FSA has positioned itself as a mid-shore jurisdiction with a robust regulatory framework, and the flexibility and competitiveness of an international financial centre," said Saiful Bahari Baharom, CEO of Labuan IBFC Inc., the promotional arm of Labuan IBFC.

Labuan is presently on the OECD "white list" of jurisdictions that have substantially implemented internationally agreed tax standards under the Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information and are deemed to have the necessary tax reporting and transparency framework in place.

Labuan FSA has issued a directive to clarify and reinforce the statutory requirements that Labuan entities must comply with, namely with respect to accounting and record-keeping.

The jurisdiction has double tax agreements signed by Malaysia with more than 74 countries.