Cyprus tops tax table ...

CYPRUS, Ireland, and Switzerland are the top three countries in a league table of European tax systems compiled by KPMG International. The firm asked major business organisations across Europe to assess the attractiveness of their domestic tax regimes.

The top three were rated most highly for their combination of consistency in interpreting tax legislation, stability in resisting frequent changes to laws and comparatively low rate.

Cyprus recorded a 90% net attractiveness, while Greece, which was number 22, achieved 14%. Malta was fourth, followed by Estonia, Finland, Austria and equal eighth were Slovakia and Luxembourg.

The Channel Islands were not surveyed.

Sue Bonney, head of tax for KPMG Europe, said: 'I was interested to see that a complex tax regime is seen as a hindrance to competitiveness, but relatively few people felt that a simpler system with a low rate can help make businesses more competitive.

'Governments across the world have been using tax as a lever to encourage inward investment for many years, but these results help to confirm that a benign tax regime is only part of the package which makes a business competitive.

'Good infrastructure, a high quality workforce and access to raw materials and markets are all equally important.'

Manx2.com, the airline set up by Alderney resident Noel Hayes, is to establish a maintenance base and company headquarters in the Isle of Man.

Plans to build 'a centre of excellence for turboprop aircraft maintenance' have been commended by Trade and Industry Minister David Cretney, who said the development of the 5,000sq. ft site would provide opportunities for local people, according to iomtoday.com.

James Filleul, the airline's communications director, said: 'Isle of Man has a long tradition of aircraft engineering excellence and skill and we are trying to build on that past history.'

Bermuda and the UK have signed a bilateral agreement for the exchange of information for tax purposes.

A release from the OECD notes that the arrangements confirm Bermuda's commitment to high international standards and its stature as a responsible international financial centre.

The rate of inflation in the Isle of Man fell by 0.1% to 4% in mid-November. However, it is still ahead of the Channel Islands when the cost of housing is excluded.

RPIX was up at 3.2%.

Bermuda has been warned that if it wants to remain a premier finance centre, the best chance is to 'get serious about educating its young people'.

Quoted in The Royal Gazette, Don Kramer, who heads a large reinsurance group in the colony, said that the $72bn insurance and reinsurance industry was vibrant and healthy, but there was a need to nurture and promote local talent.

'This can't be achieved by demands for local employment without requisite education. Because employing less than the best will only lead to creating inferior companies in a highly competitive world.

'Every other jurisdiction, for example the Dubai Financial Centre, will pick us off if we are less than the best,' he said.

'We need to do more, and I think I speak for the entire industry when I say we are anxious and we are willing to increase the employment of young qualified Bermudians, we are willing to support internship and scholarship programmes but we need Bermuda to turn out qualified high school and college graduates. We need to support primary school excellence and we need to improve the island's public education system.'

The Isle of Man Aerospace Cluster, an organisation set up by the island's Department of Trade and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce, has signed a contract with the UK's North West Aerospace Alliance to transport promote its services.

'Our businesses are currently thriving in a buoyant market and collaboration among island companies is now greater than ever since the creation of the cluster,' said Adrian Moore, manufacturing development manager at the DTI.

'We are, however, all very aware of the very high standards and sometimes unpredictable nature of the aerospace industry and the need to continue investment in the latest skills, equipment and processes to cope with future demands. We will need to continue to embed continuous improvement and create strong relationships with the wider market.'

The Butterfield Bank Group has established the Butterfield International Private Office in London as part of its expanding wealth management business.

The new subsidiary will concentrate on client acquisition for the group's network of trust businesses, comprising offices in Bermuda, Cayman, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Malta and The Bahamas.

A Manx company, Odyssey Moon, based in Douglas, has become the first entrant in the $30m. Google Lunar X Prize race to the moon.

The prize will go to the first private company to land a privately funded robotic rover on the moon that is capable of exploring the surface.

Isle of Man Today says that the Odyssey Moon is a private commercial lunar enterprise with headquarters in the Isle of Man and offices in Toronto, London and Washington DC.

Peter Body is the editor of Business Brief, the Channel Islands' business magazine.