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Privacy: A Global Context

PPLI Delivers Enhanced Privacy

This week we embark on a new short video series that gives you the highlights of our previous Stories series. We begin with Carlos Gutierrez and his family. In Part One, you will learn of the kidnapping of his daughter, Lucinda, by a powerful Mexican drug cartel, and the request of a $10M ransom. What unfolds is a far too common occurrence in Latin American countries, and can be greatly mitigated with a properly structured PPLI policy that follows the dictates of an EWP asset structure.

Throughout the world privacy has a drastically different meaning depending on which country you call your home. In some countries you take certain types of privacy for granted, and in other countries privacy is an unknown concept. No matter what country you call home, if you are a wealthy family, governments and journalists, have you marked for increased scrutiny, which translates into a distinct lack of privacy for your financial affairs.

If legitimate, enhanced privacy is what you seek in your financial affairs, look no further than Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) for your solution. In the present day environment of financial transparency, attempting to hide assets only draws more attention to them.

Using a structure that provides privacy by its very nature is a much better way to achieve this aim. What was the attitude towards privacy in past times? We will give some examples below.

First, we will give you the steps that give enhanced privacy in PPLI structuring for wealthy international families:

The PPLI policyholder contributes the assets that he or she wants to protect as a premium payment, in cash or in kind, to a bespoke investment fund created by the life insurer. The life insurer opens a dedicated account at a custodian bank for the underlying assets of the policy.
The PPLI policyholder selects an investment strategy and nominates an investment manager. The life company formally appoints the investment manager.
This internal investment fund is exclusively linked to the policyholder’s life policy. The value of the PPLI policy is equal at all times to that of the underlying internal investment fund.
The life insurer has now become the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) of the underlying assets.

Privacy in the Past

What was privacy like in eras before our own? We are grateful for “The Birth and Death of Privacy: 3,000 Years of History…” by Greg Ferenstein courtesy of Medium for these quotes:

“Privacy, as it is conventionally understood, is only about 150 years old. Most humans living throughout history had little concept of privacy in their tiny communities. Sex, breastfeeding, and bathing were shamelessly performed in front of friends and family.”

“The lesson from 3,000 years of history is that privacy has almost always been a back-burner priority. Humans invariably choose money, prestige or convenience when it has conflicted with a desire for solitude.”

“The majority of Romans lived in crowded apartments, with walls thin enough to hear every noise. “Think of Ancient Rome as a giant campground,” writes Angela Alberto in A Day in the life of Ancient Rome.”

“There was no classical or medieval Latin word equivalent to ‘privacy’. privatio meant ‘a taking away’” ~ Georges Duby, author, A History Of Private Life: Revelations of the Medieval World”

“Few people demanded privacy while they slept because even separate beds wouldn’t have afforded them the luxury. Most homes only had one room. Architectural historians trace the origins of internal walls to the more basic human desire to be warm.”

“By the Renaissance, it was quite common for at least the wealthy to shelter themselves away in the home. Yet, even for those who could afford separate spaces, it was more logistically convenient to live in close quarters with servants and family.”

“Privacy-conscious citizens did find more traction with what would become perhaps America’s first privacy law, the 1710 Post Office Act, which banned sorting through the mail by postal employees.”

This last quote seems quaint in light of the large-scale, present-day concerns of unauthorized data sharing by social media sites.

Privacy Today

With the exchange of client financial information by tax authorities through the implementation of FATCA, CRS, and registers of beneficial ownerships, our clients have legitimate privacy concerns.

EWP Financial employs KYC safeguards and documents the source of funds for the PPLI policy. We also keep you compliant with tax authorities worldwide. Our firm can be confident of our success, because PPLI structuring greatly simplifies the process, and in addition, gives you the enhanced privacy that you seek.