ITALIA E SAN MARINO: L'ECONOMIST SVELA IL SEGRETO DI UNA PACIFICA COABITAZIONE
"The little republic also needs to keep on good terms with its big Italian neighbour, where tax evasion has long been a national sport, second only to football. Although banking secrecy remains fundamental to San Marino's success, its central bank has close working relations with the Bank of Italy. The director-general cut his professional teeth there and the head of banking supervision was formerly a senior officer in its supervisory service.
The secret of peaceful cohabitation, it seems, is to avoid being too keen in winning an edge over the neighbours—and to employ senior staff who once worked for the opposition".
cfr.:
San Marino
Offshore, onshore
Mar 8th 2007 | SAN MARINO
From The Economist print edition
Maximising a mini-republic
THE 24 directors who oversee the International Monetary Fund need supple minds. On a single day last month they turned their attention to the Islamic Republic of Iran (where nuclear tensions are inhibiting private investment), the catastrophic Republic of Zimbabwe (which ignores the fund's advice and has not repaid its money) and then the idyllic Republic of San Marino. This hilltop enclave, completely surrounded by Italy, is the world's smallest republic bar Nauru. Land-locked, it nonetheless makes its living as an “offshore” financial centre.
Founded in the middle ages, the republic's long life has not always been serene. Earlier this decade, the fund points out, “growth was sputtering, public finances were precarious, and the economy was mired in [an] old-fashioned modus operandi.” Now, however, the IMF is pleased to report that its financial sector has been undergoing a “quiet revolution”.
Quiet, perhaps, but not entirely silent. In June 2005 the republic had its own big bang, when it set up a central bank with supervisory powers. New regulations on fund management were approved last September and the arrival of insurance companies is on the horizon. Banking liberalisation arrived a bit earlier, with eight institutions established in the opening years of this decade.
San Marino aspires to become a fully fledged financial centre, like Luxembourg, which offers light but firm regulation. It wants to avoid a reputation as a tax haven or somewhere dodgy to park questionable funds. It “must free itself of the cloudy name it has sometimes had,” said Stefano Macina, the finance minister.
The little republic also needs to keep on good terms with its big Italian neighbour, where tax evasion has long been a national sport, second only to football. Although banking secrecy remains fundamental to San Marino's success, its central bank has close working relations with the Bank of Italy. The director-general cut his professional teeth there and the head of banking supervision was formerly a senior officer in its supervisory service.
The secret of peaceful cohabitation, it seems, is to avoid being too keen in winning an edge over the neighbours—and to employ senior staff who once worked for the opposition.