Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) is opening an office in the tiny yet extremely wealthy Principality of Monaco.
Going Where The Money Is: Bloomberg reports Goldman Sachs received permission from Monaco’s regulators to open a wealth unit, six years after closing an earlier office. The company has hired three financial executives from the U.K.’s Barclays Plc (NYSE:BCS) — Arnaud Caussin, Thibaut Lambert and Serge Olive — to run the office.
“The opening of our presence in Monaco is critical to delivering on our regionalization strategy and overall growth plan,” said Chris French, Goldman’s co-head of private-wealth management for EMEA, in a statement. “Monaco represents a significant jurisdiction for our Private Wealth business in Europe.”
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State Of Grace: The Mediterranean principality is one of the world’s smallest countries — its total territory can fit inside New York City’s Central Park — but the wealth of its population more than compensates for its lack of size, with nearly 39,000 Monaco residents holding millionaire status.
Monaco also offers one of the world’s most generous tax codes: the government does not collect capital gains taxes, wealth taxes or property taxes, nor does it tax dividends paid by local companies' stocks and or charge a general corporate income tax.
Among the other global banks with a Monaco presence are Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) and UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS).
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