World Markets
STOCK MARKETS
Feb 21 prev %chg
S&P 500 3346.59 3373.23 -0.
Nasdaq Composite 9634.55 9750.97 -1.
Dow Jones Ind 29029.42 29219.98 -0.
FTSEurofirst 300 1667.89 1676.90 -0.
Euro Stoxx 50 3796.90 3822.98 -0.
FTSE 100 7403.92 7436.64 -0.
FTSE All-Share 4132.71 4150.19 -0.
CAC 40 6029.72 6062.30 -0.
Xetra Dax 13579.33 13664.00 -0.
Nikkei 23386.74 23479.15 -0.
Hang Seng 27308.81 27609.16 -1.
MSCI World $ 2420.21 2431.22 -0.
MSCI EM $ 1095.32 1103.69 -0.
MSCI ACWI $ 577.03 579.87 -0.CURRENCIES
Feb 21 prev
$ per € 1.085 1.
$ per £ 1.296 1.
£ per € 0.837 0.
¥ per $ 111.705 112.
¥ per £ 144.759 144.
SFr per € 1.062 1.
€ per $ 0.922 0.Feb 21 prev
£ per $ 0.772 0.
€ per £ 1.194 1.
¥ per € 121.222 121.
£ index 80.804 81.
SFr per £ 1.268 1.COMMODITIESFeb 21 prev %chg
Oil WTI $ 53.25 53.88 -1.
Oil Brent $ 58.34 59.31 -1.
Gold $ 1619.00 1604.20 0.INTEREST RATES
price yield chg
US Gov 10 yr 1.47 -0.
UK Gov 10 yr 0.59 -0.
Ger Gov 10 yr -0.43 0.
Jpn Gov 10 yr -0.07 -0.
US Gov 30 yr 116.40 1.92 -0.
Ger Gov 2 yr 105.71 -0.65 0.price prev chg
Fed Funds Eff 1.55 1.55 0.
US 3m Bills 1.58 1.58 0.
Euro Libor 3m -0.44 -0.43 -0.
UK 3m 0.75 0.75 0.
Prices are latest for edition Data provided by MorningstarTOM M Y ST U B B I N GTO N
A N D E DWA R D W H I T E— LONDON
S O N G J U N G - A— SEOULThe US 30-year bond yield tumbled to
an all-time low yesterday as intensify-
ing fears over the coronavirus out-
break sent investors rushing to safe
assets and prompted new warnings
from global health officials.A bond rally pushed the yield on long-
dated US Treasuries below 1.9 per cent,
as investors bet that the virus’s eco-
nomic impact could drive the Federal
Reservetocutinterestratesthisyear.
“We are now expecting the coronavi-
rus to have a longer impact on global
growth,” said Dickie Hodges, a portfolio
manager at Nomura Asset Manage-
ment. “The US is one of the few places
that has room to cut rates, and I think
theywillcutatleasttwicethisyear.”The flight to safety came as South
Korea imposed emergency curbs on one
of its biggest cities and a nearby town,
the latest measure by governments that
arestrugglingtocontainthevirus.
AfterSeoulofficialsaskedresidentsof
Daegu, the country’s fourth-biggest city,
to stay in their homes, the World Health
Organization sounded a warning over a
rise in infections in South Korea and
Iran. It also flagged concerns over Shan-
dongprovinceineastChina.
“Wearestillinaphasewherecontain-
ment is possible but with a narrowing
window of opportunity,” said Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-
general.
The respiratory illness, which experts
believe originated from Wuhan in
Decemberlastyear,hasnowkilledmore
than 2,240 people. Nearly 77,000 cases
have been confirmed globally, withChina accounting for more than 75,000.
Seoul reported 100 new cases of the
Covid-19 virus, including 90 cases
traced to a religious sect in Daegu, mak-
ing South Korea the worst-hit country
outside China. Daegu authorities said
more than 400 church members of
3,000 surveyed in the city were showing
symptoms.
Iran’s health ministry said that two
people had died after being infected by
thevirus,takingthenumberoffatalities
inthecountrytofour.
InItaly,officialssaidsixnewcaseshad
beenconfirmed.
Additional reporting by Christian Shepherd,
Henry Sanderson and Sarah Provan
Cruise ship loopholepage 7
Editorial Commentpage 10
Megan Greenepage 11
Fashion falls victimpage 13
Lexpage 22Treasuries yields hit all-time low as
virus drives investor flight to safety
Football is divided over immigration
rules that come into force when the
freedom of movement between the UK
and the EU ends after December.
Those who run the sport have been
told to make a joint proposal for how
the rules should affect football — but
the Premier League opposes Football
Association plans to curb the number
of foreign nationals at top clubs.
AnalysisiPAGE 3
Bronwen MaddoxiPAGE 12Football split over keeping
foreign talent at top clubsUK£4.00; Channel Islands £4.00; Republic of Ireland €4.00 SATURDAY 22 FEBRUARY/SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2020
© THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2020
No: 40,330★
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Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Orlando, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Seoul, Dubai, Doha
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Art of Fashion
NEWS PROVIDER OF THE YEAR
ST E FA N WAG ST Y L
Britain’s tax authority has created a
secretive unit to investigate the use of
family investment companies by the
very wealthy to avoid inheritance tax,
putting family offices with more than
$1tninassetsinitssights.
HMRC set up the team last April to
target the use of so-called family invest-
ment companies. The creation of the
unit, which was not previously dis-
closed, comes amid growing concern
over inequality and the perception that
the wealthy avoid taxes by using sophis-
ticatedlegalinstruments.
FICs are increasingly popular with
family offices as vehicles to hold stocks,
bonds and other assets. Placing assets
intoanFICmeansthattaxondividends,
for example, is paid as corporation tax
rather than personal income tax, bene-
fiting from lower rates, according to
lawyers. If parents establishing an FIC
bring in children as co-shareholders,
inheritance taxes can, in some circum-
stances,bereduced.
HMRC in a statement to the Financial
Times said: “The Family Investment
Company team was established... in
April2019tolookatFICsanddoaquan-
titative and qualitative review into any
tax risks associated with them with a
focus on inheritance tax implications.The team’s work is exploratory at this
stage and, as such, we would not like to
shareanymoredetails.”
Jason Collins, a partner and head of
tax at Pinsent Masons, an international
law firm, said: “HMRC is following the
money. It will be concerned that family
investment companies are taxed too
leniently and that huge amounts of
wealthmightbeheldthroughthem.”
Mr Collins added that tax officials
might be concerned that FICs were
being used to bypass the anti-avoidance
rules recently applied to trusts, once a
populartax-avoidancetool.
“Family investment companies have
slippedundertheradar.Thatlookstobechanging and we may see new anti-
avoidancerulescreatedforthem.”
HMRC revealed the existence of the
new unit only after a freedom of infor-
mation request was filed by Pinsent
Masons’publicrelationscompany.
The authority defended its decision
not to reveal details, saying that to do so
“would allow opportunistic individuals
and would-be avoiders [to] identify
where HMRC is devoting resources and
arrange their activities to escape
challenge”.
The latest initiative follows HMRC’s
creation in 2009 of a high-net-worth
unit, which focuses on the 7,000 or so
peoplewith£20mormoreinassets.Tax office turns heat on rich families
3 HMRC cracks down on inheritance vehicles 3 Secretive unit eyes more than $1tn in assets
Iran’s choice
Hardliners set
to tighten grip
AvotercastsherballotinTehranyester-
day in parliamentary elections that are
expected to tighten the hold of regime
hardlinersonIran.
The poll is the first since Donald
Trump withdrew the US from the 2015
nuclear deal and imposed sanctions on
the Islamic republic. Washington’s
“maximum pressure” strategy has
weakened reformers and crushed the
hopes of millions of Iranians who
believed the accord would usher in an
eraofprosperity.
But it has emboldened hardliners
who, vindicated in their anti-western
stance, look set for electoral success for
thefirsttimeinsevenyears.
Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA via Reuters
HMRC revealed
the existence of
the new team
after a freedom
of information
request was filed
by law firm
Pinsent Masons’
PR companyFEBRUARY 22 2020 Section:FrontBack Time: 21/2/2020 - 19:59 User: nick.miller Page Name: FRONT1, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 1 , 1