According to their website, Scotiabank started out in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1832. They have over 7 million personal and business customers in Canada – a number of which they’re now throwing under the FATCA bus. Yay Scotiabank. Not.
C’mon Flaherty! C’mon Govt of Canada! Protect your citizens no matter where they were born!
http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/0,,6098,00.html
“What does this mean to Scotiabank and our customers?
It is the Bank’s intention to meet our FATCA obligations across our entire global network, where applicable and permitted. To that end, Scotiabank has created a team of professionals committed to implementing the operational changes required to meet those obligations.
Scotiabank operates in more than 55 countries. Fifteen of those countries are in negotiations with the U.S., and two — the U.K. and Mexico — have reached an agreement and are now FATCA Partners.
- As each country in which Scotiabank operates enters into an agreement with the U.S., we will do what is required to meet the obligations imposed by that country’s FATCA agreement.
- Where Scotiabank operates in countries that are not FATCA Partners, we intend to meet our FATCA obligations by, wherever possible, entering into an agreement directly with the U.S. Treasury.”
Then there is this from a comment from badger on Isaac Brock:
http://www.sunlife.ca/Canada/GRS+matters/GRS+matters+articles/2012/Breaking+news/The+US+Foreign+Accounts+Tax+Compliance+Act+FATCA+and+your+group+retirement+plan?vgnLocale=en_CA
How would one react to this missive if they knew nothing of the issue yet — the beginning of an OMG moment?
Quote:
December 3, 2012
In March 2010, the U.S. federal government passed the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
The Act increases the ability of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to detect tax evasion by U.S. persons who hold financial accounts at foreign financial institutions. This includes U.S. persons who hold a group retirement plan account administered by Sun Life Financial and other Canadian financial institutions.
What this means to you
According to the latest information beginning January 1, 2014, FATCA will require Sun Life Financial to collect and report certain information on accounts held by U.S. persons to the IRS.
This means that we may require plan sponsors or plan members to provide us with information or documentation to determine if a plan member is, or is not, a U.S. person (a term that refers generally to a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident in this context). It should be noted that the term “accounts” includes life insurance policies with a cash value and annuities.
It also means that we may have to report certain personal and account information to the IRS or the Canada Revenue Agency if a plan member is identified as a U.S. person.
…
Unquote
I’d like to know of a bank in Canada that will say no to FATCA which is an onerous invasion of personal privacy.
@freezemeister, oh, believe me, so would I. It’s obvious that all Canadian banks are going to invade the privacy of Canadian citizens in order to comply with the laws of a foreign country – unless the Canadian gov’t says otherwise, which doesn’t seem too likely, either.