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  3. The seaside promenade in Douglas, on the Isle of Man, a self-governing Briti

The seaside promenade in Douglas, on the Isle of Man, a self-governing Briti

游客2023-12-28  3
问题     The seaside promenade in Douglas, on the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown dependency, boasts grand Victorian buildings and a horse-drawn tram. When cheap air travel meant these holiday towns were abandoned, most fell into disrepair. But Douglas reinvented itself as an offshore financial centre. Today finance provides over a third of the island’s GDP, of which around half is from insurance. Now new transparency rules put that at risk.
    From January 1st the island’s insurers will have to be more open with clients, in particular on the subject of brokers’ commissions. Britain has had similar rules since last year. International organizations such as the OECD, a club of rich countries, and the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental anti-money-laundering organization, increasingly require such standards for their seal of approval.
    The island’s main insurance business is not at risk. The "offshore bonds" it started offering in the 1970s allow British residents to pay a lump sum, usually at least 50,000 pounds ($63,000), to be returned on an agreed date. These count as life insurance, though the insurance payout is typically just 1—5％ of the lump sum, and can be as little as 1 pound. The appeal is tax-efficiency: deferring income tax liabilities or avoiding inheritance tax. Britain’s tax authority could kill these off, but it has tolerated them for decades and shows no sign of a change of heart.
    Rather, it is the island’s growing business of life insurance for expatriates and the global rich that is under threat. The other big offshore insurance centre, Bermuda, specializes in property-and-casualty insurance and reinsurance, mainly for hurricane risk in America. For the Isle of Man, by contrast, life insurance accounts for over 90％ of its insurers’ assets under management: 69 bn pounds out of 75 bn pounds. And within life insurance, it specializes in asset protection and asset management rather than death benefits or annuities.
    Reasons to buy range from wealth protection—from high taxes, government expropriation or succession squabbles—to tax arbitrage. In many countries the proceeds of a life-insurance policy attract less tax than a direct inheritance.
    Unhappily for Manx firms, these products are sold with hefty commissions. Some of their brokers charge 6—7％ of a policy’s value. Though that is similar to commissions in onshore jurisdictions—around 6％ in Ireland, for instance—onshore life insurance is mainly about death benefits, annuities and to an extent savings. A better comparator for Manx products is financial advice, where commissions have been slashed. In Britain financial advisers must charge retail investors fixed fees rather than commissions, to avoid conflicts of interest.
    Business might shift to avoid the new rules. One Manx official worries about competition from the British Virgin Islands. Or clients boggling at the newly revealed fees may switch to a different sort of vehicle for asset protection, for example the trusts in which Jersey and Guernsey, also Crown dependencies, specialize.
    The Isle of Man will still benefit from a stable legal environment and specialist talent.
    It already offers some products that rely on neither Britain’s tax forbearance nor rich individuals elsewhere. But the island’s financial industry will have to diversify: to new types of customers such as corporations, for example, or to products that are less dependent on brokers.
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答案     马恩岛是英国自治的皇家属地。一辆马拉轨道车穿过其首府道格拉斯(Douglas)的海滨长廊，该地建筑具有维多利亚时期的风格。当航空旅行费用逐渐降低，这些度假小镇变得无人问津，大多已年久失修，但道格拉斯将自己重塑为离岸金融中心。如今，金融业对这座小岛的生产总值(GDP)贡献率超过三分之一，其中约有一半来自保险业。现在，新的政策要求马恩岛保险业务更加公开透明，这使得该行业的未来岌岌可危。
    从1月1日起，马恩岛的保险公司需要提高业务透明度，特别是在经纪人佣金方面。自去年起，英国也出台了类似规定。作为富国俱乐部的经济合作与发展组织(OECD)和政府间反洗钱的金融行动特别工作组(Financial Action Task Force)等国际组织愈发要求这些标准得到它们的认可，马恩岛主要的保险业务没有受到影响。该行业自20世纪70年代开始发行的“离岸债券”
    允许英国居民趸交至少5万英镑(合6.3万美元)，并在约定日期返还满期金。这些属于人寿保险，不过保险收益通常只占投保金额的1％一5％，而且可能仅有1英镑，但其吸引力在于通过递延所得税负债或规避遗产税所产生的税收收益。英国税务当局本可以取缔这些业务，但几十年来它一直没有采取任何措施，目前亦没有行动的迹象。
    而受到影响的是马恩岛不断增长的海外人士和全球富豪人寿保险业务。另一个大型离岸保险中心百慕大(Bermuda)，专门从事财产、意外伤害保险和再保险业务，主要针对美国飓风风险保险。
    相比之下，马恩岛上的保险公司750亿英镑的管理资产中有690亿英镑为人寿保险保费，占比超90％。
    在人寿保险领域，它专注于资产保护管理。而不是死亡赔偿金或养老金方面。购买保险的理由多种多样，从财富保护到税收套利等。其中，通过购买保险可以帮助投保人在高税收、政府征用或继承纠纷的情况下有效避税或节税以达到保护财产的目的。在许多国家，通过购买人寿保险产生的收益需要缴纳的税比直接继承遗产缴纳的遗产继承税要少。
    然而，马恩岛的企业通过出售人寿保险产品能获得高额佣金，一些经纪人收取保单价值6％一7％的费用。尽管这与在岸司法管辖区保险公司收取的佣金相差不多。例如爱尔兰收取大约6％的费用。在岸人寿保险主要关于死亡赔偿金、养老金和一定程度上的储蓄金。目前马恩岛保险公司财务咨询产品的佣金已被削减。在英国，金融顾问必须向散户收取固定费用而不能收取佣金，以避免利益冲突。
    马恩岛的企业可能会进行战略调整，以规避新规则带来的影响。马恩岛的一位官员担心岛内企业将面临来自英属维尔京群岛(British Virgin Islands)企业的竞争，或是客户可能会吃惊于昂贵的收费，转而寻求其他资产保护产品，如位于同样为皇家属地的泽西岛(Jersey)和根西岛(Guernsey)的企业专门从事的信托投资。
    马恩岛仍将受益于稳定的法律环境和专业人才。
    它已经推出了一些既不依赖英国宽松的税收政策，也不依赖海外富豪的产品，但马恩岛的金融业不得不走向多元化。例如，开拓企业等新的客户类型或开发对经纪人依赖较少的产品。
解析     1.第1段第一句若直译为“位于英国自治的皇家属地马恩岛上的道格拉斯海滨长廊，拥有宏伟的维多利亚时代建筑和一辆马拉轨道车。”则显得生硬，在翻译时可对原文进行断句、语序进行调整，译为“马恩岛是英国自治的皇家属地。一辆马拉轨道车穿过其首府道格拉斯的海滨长廊，该地建筑具有维多利亚时期的风格。”，使译文表达更为自然。
    2.第3段第四句在翻译时可将句子进行整合，译为“但其吸引力在于通过递延所得税负债或规避遗产税所产生的税收受益。”
    3.第3段第五句a change of heart为固定搭配，意思是if you have a change of heart，your attitude towards something changes. “如果你改变了主意，你对某事的态度发生了改变。”因此，结合本文语境，此处是说税务当局没有要采取取缔这些业务的行动，故shows no sign of a change of heart可译作“没有行动的迹象”。
    4.第6段第二句proceeds在此为名词，意为“收益”。
    5.第5段第二句pokey为多义词，有“政策”“方针”“保险单”等多个义项。文中指的是人寿保险的保单，故此处应取第3个义项，将其译为“保单”。
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