The news that some of the world's top hedge funds open offices in Athens has surprised many. For officials in the Greek capital, however, it was the result of a plan prepared for almost a year.
The idea was simple: attract top executives of the financial sector, projecting Greece as a safe, stable and predictable tax environment, with additional advantages in mild weather and good quality of life. To make the country a destination for hedge funds, however, officials knew that They had to secure a big name.
The Millennium Management, one of the largest and strongest supervised hedge funds, perfectly suited to this profile. Last November, the Greek Ministry of Finance started discussions with the multi-strategic company on the conditions for opening an office in Athens.
A great candidate
For external observers, the memories of Greece's long debt crisis made Athens a «unlikely» candidate for the establishment of a financial centre. Greek officials, however, believed that the harsh lessons of the crisis could be a key element of the Greek «Proposal».
Thus, while stockbrokers in London see their tax burden increase as the public finances of the United Kingdom deteriorate, Greece of the post-memorial period has adopted a fiscal prudence policy.
«Greece is financially healthy, produces stable surpluses and, As a result, it provides tax predictability and macroeconomic stability»Vasilis Karatzas, a close adviser to Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis and one of the people who worked behind the scenes to put the country on the map of hedge funds.
Predictability
This predictability is crucial. The affluent who are considering immigration want the assurance that the rules will not change once they are settled there. Although Milan has had some success in trying to attract the rich in London, the single tax of EUR 100,000 on income from abroad introduced by Italy in 2017 has already increased twice and is more than EUR 300,000 per year.
Greece, on the other hand, has retained the 100,000 euros tax it introduced in late 2019. However, to attract a strictly supervised and recognizable hedge fund, which would help to overthrow obsolete perceptions of the country, officials knew they had to do more.
New rules
During the next few months a new legal framework for the taxation of hedge funds was established, which makes work easier and more attractive than Athens. On the basis of the new rules, fund managers who transfer their tax residence to Greece will also pay a 5% tax on the premium and their bonuses.
However, as less than a year remains until the election, the issue is politically sensitive. Part of the opposition has accused the government of creating a tax haven.
«We don't want to be a tax haven.»
«To be clear, Greece does not want to become a tax haven»Mr. Karajas says. Companies established in Athens will be taxed normally, as will their employees. «Our goal is to create high-quality jobs, attract highly skilled workers, help Greeks return to their country and create a new ecosystem.», add.
As the Ministry of Finance was working on the new framework, the Immigration Ministry helped simplify procedures concerning the status of those who would move to Greece. At the same time, the outbreak of the war between the US and Iran caused a wave of retaliation against the United Arab Emirates, the country that had been established as the most important competitor of the traditional world centres of hedge funds.
Not long ago, stockbrokers and their families flocked by thousands in the Middle East.attracted by the promise of safety, sunshine and better quality of life, declares in Bloomberg, Jason Kennedy, head recruitment company specializing in hedge funds.
«Now that security has become an issue, many of them are not willing to return or seek alternatives»He said.
Of course, the active financial centres of both Abu Dhabi and Dubai continued to develop after the start of the conflict, reinforced by the successful interception of the majority of the attacks. At the same time, the region's huge institutional investors are still a vital source of capital for many hedge funds, a factor that can affect decisions on location selection.
Finally, Greece voted for legislative changes in June and next month Millennium registered an office in Athens. But it was not the only company to consider such a move.
Abu Dhabi Global Market had announced in May that Rokos Capital Management would open its first office in the emirate. But when the decision of its founder was revealed last week, Chris Rocos, to leave the United Kingdom, its destination was Greece rather than the United Arab Emirates. This unexpected decision turned the financial world's attention to the newly created efforts of Athens to attract leading traders.
Major successes
Οι κινήσεις της Rokos και της Millennium αποτελούν σημαντικές επιτυχίες για την Ελλάδα, όσο και αιτία ανησυχίας για το Λονδίνο. Επισφραγίζουν επίσης την επιστροφή της χώρας στην οικονομική κανονικότητα μετά τη δεκαετή κρίση χρέους, η οποία εξανέμισε περίπου το ένα τέταρτο της οικονομικής της παραγωγής και την έφερε επικίνδυνα κοντά στην έξοδο από την Ευρωζώνη.
Τα τελευταία χρόνια, η ελληνική οικονομία αναπτύσσεται ταχύτερα από τις περισσότερες ευρωπαϊκές οικονομίες. Από το 2023, η Ελλάδα ανέκτησε την επενδυτική βαθμίδα από όλους τους σημαντικούς οίκους αξιολόγησης, το χρηματιστήριό της αναβαθμίστηκε πρόσφατα και επανεντάχθηκε στις ανεπτυγμένες αγορές, ενώ η χώρα δανείζεται σήμερα με χαμηλότερο κόστος από την Ιταλία, τη Γαλλία ή τις ΗΠΑ.
Παρότι δεν έχει σημειωθεί ακόμη μια ευρύτερη μετακίνηση επαγγελματιών του χρηματοοικονομικού κλάδου προς την Ελλάδα, οι αξιωματούχοι σκοπεύουν να αξιοποιήσουν τις κινήσεις της Millennium και της Rokos προκειμένου να προσελκύσουν και άλλες, μικρότερες εταιρείες.
preferred source on Google
To show more articles by Maritime in your searches easily and quickly, you must add the site to your preferred sources. You can do it by going Here..
