The Isle of Man branch of the Society of Trustee and Estate Practitioners (STEP IOM) has hailed its recent annual conference as a great success.
The annual event which is open STEP IOM members and non-members alike, gives attendees the opportunity to hear leading professionals in the fields of domestic and international tax, accountancy, law and estate planning speak on topical developments and opportunities in their respective areas of expertise. This year's conference welcomed 115 attendees and was sponsored by Appleby.
To ensure that the event is well supported, STEP IOM work very hard to attract very high calibre of speaker. This year's programme consisted of Nick Cringle (Coutts); Jonathan Conder (Macfarlanes); Steen Ehlern (Ferguson Partners Family Office); Filippo Noseda (Withers); Marcus Staff (XXIV Old Buildings); Nicholas Le Poidevin (New Square Chambers); Philip Dearden (PKF); and finally Keith Johnston (STEP).
With such a wide variety of speakers, the subject matter was, as expected, equally wide-ranging, covering trustee investment, family partnerships, family offices, trusts and insolvency, foundations, trustee responsibilities and the EU Savings Tax Directive.
Commenting on the success of the conference, STEP IOM branch chairman John Rimmer said, "The increased popularity and level of support shows that this really is one of the leading events of the year for the Island’s Trust and Corporate Service Providers.
"The conference is one of the few events on the Island to have so many speakers covering such a variety of subjects in one day".
STEP is the professional body for trust and estate practitioners. Its 13,000 members work mainly in the legal, accountancy, trustee, banking, insurance and related sectors, in over 58 jurisdictions around the globe. STEP membership covers common, civil and Sharia law jurisdictions and is concentrated in the UK, the Crown Dependencies, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. STEP is also seeing the growth of branches in both the middle and Far East.
In additional to the annual conference, STEP IOM organise numerous events throughout the year for its members. The next event will be a seminar on Estate Planning for Isle of Man residents, presented by John Nugent of PKF on 23rd February.
Anyone interested in joining STEP (or who is already a member and wishes to become more involved with the local branch) should contact Sarah Ingrassia (Student Liaison Officer) on (01624) 69900 or Tracey Greenwood (Branch Secretary) (01624) 692766 for further details.
