Common Reporting Standards

Sören Seitz, Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer, Manulife Asia, Hong Kong
Steven Yeo, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Manulife Asia, China

The recent spate of news resulting from the leak of over 11 million documents from the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, (now commonly known as the Panama Papers or the Panama Leaks) has refocused a spotlight back on money laundering, tax evasion and the murky world of offshore activities. The leak of documents, many of them confidential, is unprecedented in many ways. While various journalists, authorities, companies and interested organisations across the world are trawling through the sheer amount of data to assess the implications, some of the early disclosures have already had significant impact; such as the resignation of the Prime Minister of Iceland and forced defensive actions by a number of other high-profile individuals and companies whose offshore activities have been discovered.