The onslaught of geopolitical tensions has severely disrupted supply chains of businesses. Such uncertainty in the business environment has resulted in companies looking to establish a second base to diversify their business risks. However, such strategic move requires a massive amount of planning and understanding of the business climate in the new countries of interest. Without a proper tax planning and compliance with the local regulations, this may be a nightmare for businesses in terms of business cost and infringement of laws. Additionally, companies could also miss out opportunities to capitalize on tax incentives and FTA benefits in their regional headquarter (RHQ).

In tandem, the global compliance landscape has evolved significantly over the past few years. Notably, the Common Reporting Standard or CRS, modelled after FATCA, was introduced by the OECD since 2017 to tackle tax evasion issues. In addition, due to the rise of decentralised money, the OECD has also released a public consultation document concerning a new global tax transparency framework to provide for the reporting of information related to crypto-assets. To add to the complexity, the digitalized economy has also introduced new money laundering risks globally. It is no wonder that financial regulators in advanced economies like Singapore have tightened their anti-money laundering policies, compounding the need for a robust compliance framework and execution.

Born out of this complex regulatory landscape and international business environment, we deeply recognize and empathize the pain of small and medium-sized financial firms including family offices, fund management companies and venture capital firms, and enterprises including corporates and family businesses which are expanding overseas or establishing a second base or RHQ. They often struggle to justify the disproportionate expenses on establishment of a full fledge, self-sufficient compliance function, and lack the expertise in localizing a new base in a foreign country.