Best of the Web: Swiss canton accused of financial 'apartheid'

Obwalden, a Swiss canton, has been accused of creating financial "apartheid" over plans to lure millionaires to the area to boost their tax revenue.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the canton is planning to launch "special living zones" for millionaires in an attempt to increase its tax take. Obwalden, like other cantons in the country, is short of revenue because it has been competing with other jurisdictions to offer the lowest tax. Full story...

MPs are rushing to abandon lucrative outside positions ahead of new rules to be introduced within days which will force them to disclose how much they earn for work outside Parliament, The Daily Telegraph reports.

At least nine members of David Cameron's frontbench team have indicated they will give up second jobs from which they can earn several hundred thousands pounds a year. Full story...

Of all the British businessmen who have flocked to the Gulf's shining new cities, few epitomised the sun-soaked expatriate lifestyle more than Charles Ridley, Ryan Cornelius, and Arthur Fitzwilliam, says The Daily Telegraph.

Charles Ridley dealt out sums in the billions as local representative of a boutique bank owned by a Turkish multi-millionaire. He too kept a million-dollar yacht, berthed near his home in Bahrain, but he was perhaps most celebrated in his circle of friends for the style with which he celebrated the 50th birthday of his wife, Kino. Full story...

Switzerland's central bank yesterday warned that it was examining the forced shrinking of banking groups such as UBS and Credit Suisse to contain the risks posed by their size, according to The FT.

The central bank is looking at imposing constraints on the size of its biggest domestic banks unless global policymakers can come up with a system to deal with large banks when they fail. Full story...

Nearly $5 million in previously undeclared income has come to the tax man's attention since July, as people heed warnings of a crackdown on dodgy tax arrangements, Australia's Business Day reports.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is urging people to own up, or face hefty fines as it intensifies its scrutiny of offshore tax havens.

Acting ATO Commissioner Jennie Granger told the Chartered Accountants Technical Conference in Sydney that since July there have been 91 voluntary disclosures totaling $4.6 million in taxable income. Full story...

As Ministers, portfolios and government personnel shuffle in the wake of 20 May general elections, so the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association (CIFSA) is considering changing its name to Cayman Finance, says Cayman Net News.

While the Board of Directors has not made a final decision, the change appears well-advanced, according to a CIFSA official. Full story...