Monthly Archives: September 2021

Crn Deas is a majestically beautiful private island off the north-west coast of Scotland, with a price tag that will have all of us checking our online balance and doing a few sums. Toby Keel reports.

There was a time when 50,000 could buy you a street full of houses. Even as recently as 1992, it was roughly the average cost of a house in the UK something thats almost unimaginable three decades later, especially for first-time buyers.

Of course, you can still buy properties, just about, for under 50k, if youre prepared to do a lot of work. But when you hear that number in relation to property in 2021 its generally for a parking space, or the outlandish weekly rental cost of the Mayfair mansion occupied by Adar Poonawalla, which set a record earlier this year.

So to find a 50,000 property which makes you rub your eyes in disbelief but in a good way is rare indeed. Yet thats what we have today in the form of Crn Deas, an uninhabited private island off the coast of north-west Scotland, which has just been launched to the market for offers over 50,000.

Carn Deas from the air, showing the stunning clear waters.

Its not rare to find estate agents waxing poetical, but even still the words of Goldcrest Land and Forestrys Fenning Welstead are striking: its stunningly rugged and romantic, they write. A remote sanctuary to the buyer seeking an escape to one of the countrys most wonderful natural wildernesses. Here, you can truly escape from reality, take a deep breath and enjoy what nature can offer.

That is a beautiful description for this dot on the map in the Summer Isles archipelago, which sit in the bay beyond Loch Broom, a little to the north-west of Ullapool. Sadly, the archipelago isnt named due to some devastatingly wonderful microclimate: instead, the island took their collective name thanks to the shepherds who used to bring their flocks here to graze in summer.

Crn Deas island itself is a 22-acre piece of land with beautiful views across to neighbouring Crn Iar to which it is connected by a shingle spit as well as to the mainland, with the mountains of Coigach and Assynt to the north and east, and the Fannich and Torridon hills to the south.

Accessing the island is a matter of a 25-minute boat ride from Badentarbat Pier near Achiltibuie, almost due east; or from Old Dornie Harbour to the north. You could bring your own boat and anchor off the island, and access it by dinghy. Crn Deas is sheltered both sides by neighbouring islands, which should make doing so relatively straightforward.

The sheltered, shingle beach at Carn Deas looks relatively straightforward for access via dinghy.

All that leaves is the question of what you could do with your island once it was yours. The island and all the neighbouring islands are havens for wildlife, birds and sealife. Porpoises and basking sharks are a common sight, and the waters are full of everything from mackerel and cod to lobsters and crabs. You can camp on the island and live off what you catch, enjoy swimming, snorkelling and the clearest night skies imaginable, and truly escape from modern life for a while.

Or you could spend that 50,000 on a central London parking space. Up to you really.

Carn Deas is for sale via Goldcrest for offers over 50,000 see more details and pictures.

On the banks of Loch Tay, the Old Village of Lawers has come up for sale with an eye-catching price

We take a look at the finest country houses, castles and estates for sale in Scotland, from an amazing renovation

Catch up on the best country houses for sale this week that have come to the market via Country Life.

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An incredible private island for sale in the Summer Isles at the price of a central London parking space - Country Life

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin says private businesses, including Japanese firms, operating on the disputed Kurile Islands will receive tax breaks in an effort to boost the local economy.

Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on September 3, Putin said private companies registered and physically present on the Kurile Islands will receive income and property tax breaks for 10 years.

"We have to create competitive conditions for our [Japanese] partners. It means the existing parameters of the tax burden, loan prices, the speed and quality of the state services for businesses here must be globally competitive," Putin said.

The sparsely populated islands have suffered economically since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 as investment dropped and people left for better living standards on mainland Russia.

The Soviet Union seized the Kurile islands in the final days of World War II from Japan, which continues to assert territorial rights to the islands that it calls the Northern Territories. The dispute has kept Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty formally ending the war.

Decades of diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement have failed to produce a solution to the issue.

"We think that the absence of the [peace treaty formally ending the World War II) in our bilateral relations is nonsense.... We have never refused from the dialogue on the peace treaty.... However, we must consider the realities, one of which is the necessity to secure a peaceful future and therefore to guarantee that there will be no U.S. armed forces, especially missile-assault systems near our borders," Putin said at the forum, adding that Moscow is awaiting Tokyo's response on that.

The three-day Eastern Economic Forum started in Vladivostok on September 2.

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Putin Says Private Businesses, Japanese Firms On Disputed Kurile Islands To Receive Tax Breaks - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

BERKELEY, CAIn a rare silver lining amid increasingly dire assessments of the climate crisis, optimistic researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, released a report Friday suggesting there was still time to head off environmental catastrophe before it started killing rich people. Though rising sea levels and powerful storms are devastating coastal areas, its not too late to stop floods from threatening those who live high above the water in multimillion-dollar penthouses, said climatologist and report author Dennis Gibson, explaining that by 2030, the wealthiest 0.01% of Americans would need to increase investment in charter helicopter services to ensure they would have a way to travel from a metropolitan high-rise to a vacation home without inconvenience. Similarly, rich peoples ski chalets in Wyoming, Vermont, and the Alps are at elevations that provide them with natural protection against flooding rivers. In the case of wildfires, however, they must act now if they wish to save their mountain retreats, mansions in wine country, and various other country estates. The time has come for the wealthy to stop these fires by buying up all the surrounding properties so they can clear-cut every single tree within a mile radius of their palatial homes. Despite its overall conclusion, the report stated that the climate crisis had already worsened to the point at which rich people really ought to start thinking about selling their private islands in the Caribbean.

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Optimistic Researchers Say There Still Time To Head Off Climate Change Before It Starts Killing Rich People - The Onion

Opening in 2022, all rooms at the Sea Breeze Santorini Beach Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton, will boast private terraces and a hot tub or pool.

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) announced the signing of a franchise agreement with Alexandros Ltd to open Sea Breeze Santorini Beach Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton. Due to launch in Spring 2022, the new 37-room hotel will be Hilton's first on the glamorous Greek island, complete with private beach.

Each room in the new premier development, which is built on the south coast of the island with a private beach, will benefit from its own private terrace and guests will be able to take a dip in their own personal hot tub or swimming pool. The hotel's exceptionally designed rooms take inspiration from Santorini's iconic blue and whitewashed architecture, as well as incorporating the island's rugged natural beauty with stone walls and organic wooden textures. Guests will be able to choose between the hotel's two restaurants and two bars for a relaxed bite to eat or cocktail, with two of the outlets being located on the resort's private beach. With two pools, a spa, fitness facilities and loungers by the beach, guests can alternate between working up a sweat, being pampered relaxing and cooling off with a dip in the water.

On the southern tip of one of Greece's most popular islands, the Sea Breeze Santorini Beach Resort, Curio Collection, is a short drive from Santorini's most popular sights. From the architecture of the island's cosmopolitan capital Fira to the prehistoric city of Akrotiri, visitors can explore the volcanic island's many must-sees without straying too far from the hotel. Less than two kilometres from Vlichada, a bustling marina full of seafood tavernas, attractions like the Santorini Arts Factory and neighbouring black-pebble beach, guests can explore Santorini against a backdrop of volcanic cliffs and visit colourful beaches like the famed Red Beach and iconic Perissa Black Sand Beach.

Curio Collection by Hilton is a global portfolio of more than 100 one-of-a-kind hotels and resorts, all offering a unique way to experience incredible destinations. In recent years, Hilton has signed an ever-increasing number of Curio Collection by Hilton hotels, with 66 hotels currently in development. The Sea Breeze Santorini Beach Resort will be the latest Grecian Curio hotel, following the recent opening of The Royal Senses Resort & Spa Crete, Curio Collection by Hilton in June.

The Sea Breeze Santorini Beach Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton will join the award-winning Hilton Honors guest loyalty programme, allowing more than 118 million members who book directly with Hilton to earn Points for hotel stays and experiences, plus instant benefits including contactless check-in with room selection, Digital Key and Connected Room.

Sea Breeze Santorini Beach Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton will be located in Exomitis. Hilton currently has two trading hotels in Greece under the brands Curio Collection by Hilton and Hilton Hotels and Resorts.

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Hilton to Debut in Spectacular Santorini with Stunning Beachfront Property - Hospitality Net

The Cayman Islands is already well-established as an insurance jurisdiction, with 770 insurance licensees conducting business under the supervision of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) as at 30 June 2021. What has been noteworthy of late is the increase in reinsurance undertakings domiciling in the Cayman Islands or enquiries about the establishment or re-domiciliation of various types of reinsurance structures in the Cayman Islands. Since Q2 2019, CIMA has approved 3 new licences, doubling the number of fully licensed Class D reinsurers with a physical presence on the Island (there had been 3 such entities until 2019). All the new class Ds reinsure longterm risk in the life/annuity space and all are subsidiaries of global institutional groups that have established in or re-domiciled into the Cayman Islands.

Three key factors are behind this growth:

>> Caymans effective regulatory framework;

>> Cayman as the capital markets jurisdiction of choice; and

>> Caymans expanding value proposition.

Caymans Effective Regulatory Framework

The Cayman Islands supervisory and legislative framework adopts international standards; this serves to promote confidence a mong investors and counterparties. As a jurisdiction, the Cayman Islands elected not to seek Solvency II equivalency, focussing instead on its closest market geographically the Americas which Cayman has historically served.1 The significant benefit from this election, not unlike the perceived dividend of Brexit for the U.K., is the freedom to move individually rather than being constrained by the policies of a bloc. In regulatory terms, this provides CIMA with the discretion to apply risk-based prudential standards suitable for each licensee, including allowing licensees to develop their own internal regulatory capital model. CIMA therefore stipulates minimum regulatory capital requirements and requires additional capital to be calculated and held in accordance with the reinsurers risk profile. This approach enables licensees to structure their capital in an efficient manner, which is important for all clients but especially for investment houses who have a more systematic interest in ROI than the more traditional insurance undertaking.

Recognizing the institutional counterparties involved in these reinsurance transactions, CIMA has a strong focus on the prudentialand governance standards of reinsurance licensees and adopts a principles-based approach to the reinsurers conduct of business, empowering the licensee to propose conduct of business standards for CIMAs approval. This focus is fundamental to CIMAs objective to protect and enhance the integrity of the Cayman Islands financial services industry and, in particular, to pay attention to the financial soundness of licensees.

In terms of style, CIMA is approachable and does not shy from engaging with interested parties or applicants. The team at the Insurance Division entertains and encourages preliminary structuring discussions with potential licensees to facilitate decision-making, clarity in its regulatory expectations and a commitment to prompt turnaround within two business days (to which it scrupulously adheres) for general supervisory-related queries. The most recently licensed Class D reinsurer, a Walkers client, was generous in its praise for CIMAs transparent and dynamic approach to licensing, which allows applicants confidently to assess, plan and execute the establishment of their reinsurer. The lack of surprises or shifting of the goal posts is a major advantage to the Cayman Islands reinsurance offering; this becomes obvious where multiple regulators are involved in approving a multi-jurisdictional structure or transaction.

Cayman as The Capital Markets Jurisdiction of Choice

The Cayman Islands has been the long-term favourite jurisdiction of the asset management industry for decades. The Cayman Islands remains the jurisdiction of choice for private equity firms and other asset managers with 13,219 private funds registered with CIMA at the end of Q1, 2021. Given this, it was perhaps inevitable that familiarity would bring an asset-management sponsored reinsurance undertaking to the Cayman Islands; however, it is more than mere familiarity that makes them decide in favour of the Cayman Islands.

One reason is the depth and diversity of the capital markets that the Cayman Islands accesses and serves. In addition to investment funds, the Cayman Islands is the premier structured debt issuance jurisdiction with special purpose vehicles issuing tens of billions of dollars of debt into the international capital markets annually2 ; such is the magnitude of rated debt issuance that Standard & Poors has had specific criteria for Cayman SPVs since the early 2000s. The international capital markets familiarity with and confidence in Cayman issuers and Cayman structures presents new audiences and a panoply of structuring options to Cayman-domiciled entities for reinsurance structures.

Another reason why the Cayman Islands is increasingly finding favour is the sophisticated structuring options that a major transactional jurisdiction such as the Cayman Islands offers. The breath, diversity,value and complexity of transactions accomplished through Cayman Islands vehicles means that the Cayman Islands offers or has experience of a range of corporate and finance strategies (both vanilla and highly bespoke) which can be used to manage, transform, tranche or repackage risk.

Throw in experienced world-class lawyers, accountants, fiduciary professionals, insurance managers, actuaries and structuring/advisory firms and it becomes clearer why asset managers looking to explore reinsurance opportunities around life/annuity and pensions liabilities would look to a jurisdiction that annuity or pension providers and life insurers might not naturally have previously considered.

The Cayman Islands is therefore an extremely attractive domicile to come to for structures and strategies, and an excellent known quantity from which to access pockets of capital globally which the more traditional insurance jurisdictions have less familiarity or contact with.

Caymans Expanding Value Proposition

Class D reinsurance licensees are obligated to have a physical presence in the Cayman Islands, including having an office with executive management permanently residing in the Cayman Islands. This is a no hardship posting! The inhabitants of the Cayman Islands enjoy a considerably higher standard of living than anywhere else in the Caribbean: the Cayman Islands is the gastronomic capital of the region; the Islands offer many recreational and cultural activities; real estate is well-built and entirely open to foreign ownership, regardless of nationality or origin; the schooling is good with European (A levels and International Baccalaureate) as well as American systems catered for; the Islands boast modern hospitals and excellent communications/ flights. The factors that have made the Cayman Islands appealing for international business transactions have also resulted in a cosmopolitan, highly educated population, characterised by a large professional class. All this makes the Cayman Islands a safe, non-threatening environment, which is perfect for establishing and carrying on a business.

While, historically, a lot of the business involving Cayman Islands entities was conducted off island, there is an increasing interest in businesses setting up and operating within the Cayman Islands, especially in FinTech, financial services, asset management and advisory businesses. This trend has accelerated over the last 18 months as a result of the Cayman Islands Governments intelligent, prudential and effective management of the COVID pandemic, as a result of which the Island has been COVID free since June 2020. This confidence in the ease with which smaller communities can be effectively managed (and without recourse to significant tax dollars) has led to significant inbound migration and business establishment in the Cayman Islands. As transactional activity increasingly originates on Island, the expectationis that, before too long, businesses will begin to transact substantially between themselves; at that point, the Cayman Islands will be well on the way to being a niche reinsurance hub and the convergence between different sectors, markets and technologies will surely follow. We see this as the next major stage in Caymans development and a paradigm shift that our firm has been preparing for and working towards for some time. With Government targeting a 40% increase in the population by 2030, the belief in the significant opportunities presented by the Cayman Islands is not just held by those coming to the island but by those already here, whether working in the public or private sector.

Our firm has played leading role in the developments discussed above. Feedback on the jurisdiction from reinsurers, annuity providers and specialist advisory businesses is universally positive. We are seeing considerable growth and activity and, for the reasons cited above, we expect this only to increase. We started this article by observing that there had been a two-fold increase in the number of fully licensed reinsurance entities over the last 18 months. We conclude this article by predicting a further two-fold increase over the 18 months to come.

Continued here:

Reinsurance Activity In The Cayman Islands Doubling Every 18 Months? - Lexology

When Kalyn and Collin Pounders finally went on their honeymoon to Greece in July after delaying it for more than a year because of the pandemic, they were ready to splurge. The couple, who live in Atlanta and married in June 2020, extended their trip so that they were able to visit Mykonos and Santorini islands, got a nicer room at the hotel they had booked and even went on a private cruise.

At first, Ms. Pounders, 25, wasnt planning on taking the advice of her friends, who told her that this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and that she shouldnt hold back on luxuries. But thats exactly how she and Mr. Pounders, 27, ended up approaching the vacation after the months of waiting and pandemic hardship. Were really glad we took that advice, said Ms. Pounders, who works as a clinical pharmacist. Her husband is an investment analyst. Weve waited for this, we worked really hard in between, she said, and when the time finally came, we were like Why not? We deserve it.

After the pandemic forced a halt for many honeymoons, this summer has shown indications that theyre back and bigger and splashier than ever before. The Travel Siblings, a New York-based travel consultancy that focuses on romantic trips, saw its honeymoon bookings, as of July, quadruple since last year. More than 70 percent of couples who married last year went on or are planning to go on a post-wedding getaway, a figure that is up almost 20 percent from 2020 and back to prepandemic levels, according to a recent report from WeddingWire.

The Pounders are far from alone in forgetting frugality on their postponed honeymoon. We absolutely can say that honeymoons are back with both a passion and a vengeance, said Harlan deBell, an owner of the Travel Siblings. Kara Bebell, also an owner, added: Since many couples have had to postpone their wedding dates several times, they are splurging more on hotel upgrades and private romantic experiences. Before the pandemic, the companys clients typically spent around $16,000 on a honeymoon trip. Now they are seeing that couples who had to postpone their original honeymoons are spending more than $20,000.

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The Return of the Dream Honeymoon - The New York Times