This article evaluates the reasons as to why tax treaty abuse and specifically treaty shopping have been less mooted in the international tax landscape, before the experience of the global economic slowdown. Dawn of the 21st century witnessed the international community be much intensively focused on global transparency in tax matters, and nations more concerned about the revenue loss due to tax avoidance methods adopted globally. Further, the article tries to make a logical connection between the treaty shopping, tax avoidance and tax evasion, without getting deeply into the technicalities of Limitation on Benefits and Principal Purposes Test rules proposed by OECD in BEPS Action Plan 6.

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Cross-border merger and acquisitions (hereinafter, M&A’s) have increased exponentially in Asia since the mid-1990s due to the liberalization of the economy, the deregulation of the service sector, privatization of state-owned public enterprises, and the relaxation of regulatory controls over cross-border M&A's. ASEAN economies and India are significant players in the global arena for cross-border M&A's, and thus, their importance cannot be undermined. Cross-border M&A's have distinctive implications on the socio-economic scenario of a Nation, and most importantly, it impacts substantial change in legal dimensions, involving compliance requirements, acquisition procedures, and tax liabilities. The present study is a doctrinal one; the primary objective being, a legislative frame analysis of select ASEAN countries and India with regards to cross-border M&A’s. The top five ASEAN countries, viz., Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand were selected on account of the cross-border trade volume over the past decade. The authors applied comparative and analytical methods to pursue the research inquiry. The second objective was to ascertain the vital macro-economic factors playing a decisive role in the outcome of cross-border M&A’s in the select region. Here the authors highlighted the relationship between certain macro-economic factors like trade openness, financial integration, increased inflation, increased GDP, etc. which positively impact M&As. The third and final objective was to analyze the trends of cross border M&A’s in the select region for the past decade, i.e. 2008 to 2018, as this period perfectly encapsulates a complete economic cycle from depression to boom alongside major legal developments in the field of cross-border M&A’s around the world. Furthermore, while undergoing the study, the authors highlighted certain risk factors in terms of competition, transaction, and people with regards to cross border M&A’s in the select region. Findings from the study indicated that ASEAN economies have little experience in framing and enforcing competition policies, hence, a suitable policy to reduce risk is the immediate need of the hour.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how and to what extent the Fijian sustainable banking regulations or guidelines are designed, communicated, implemented and monitored within the financial system in Fiji. A scorecard is introduced for this purpose to assess the effectiveness of Fiji’s financial battle against climate change (FBACC). Design/methodology/approach This study uses a mixed-method methodology. Data were collected mainly from a survey and supplemented by interviews, observations and documents. The scorecard was developed by building on existing two theoretical frameworks, namely, the Sustainable Banking Assessment and Climate Change Governance Index, to make them more appropriate and practically applicable to less developed financial systems in emerging economies such as Fiji. This FBACC scorecard consists of four perspectives, eight critical factors and 24 criteria. Findings The results show that the overall FBACC score averages 40.75%, and all the perspectives scored below 50%, the benchmark. Only the CF “policy” scored 54.25% because of a high positive response of 82.3% for the “political leadership” criterion. The relative contributions of each perspective in constructing the overall score are distributed as 28%, 25%, 24% and 23% among planning, action, accountability and control, respectively. Research limitations/implications These results were complemented by the information shared during the interviews and confirmed that the existing political initiatives need to be effectively communicated and/or implemented in the financial system by the regulatory agencies. Practical implications This FBACC scorecard can be applied to other underdeveloped systems in emerging countries to assess the effectiveness of the sustainable banking regulations and/or guidelines in those countries in relation to the FBACC. It can also be applied to individual firms to assess their contribution to the FBACC. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, this might be the first study in Fiji that considers the impact of climate-related financial risk on the Fijian financial system.

The research paper aims at the indagation of the cultural changes for descendants of Indian indentured labourers in Fiji as comparison to Indians. It explores the aspects of living, traditional values, and workforce participation in both jurisdictions. It also enhances the different attributes of Indian culture en casting the cultural realm and the practices been reshaped in Fiji. The paper intends to systemically explain the differences between cultural and traditional characteristics of India's culture and Indo-Fijian culture. The inclination of lifestyle towards westernization and modernization will also be highlighted which amplifies the aspect of change to time and necessities. The research methodology adopted by the researchers is mixed-method and the data collection was made through the use of a questionnaire. Conclusively, the study done commutates the thorough use of questionnaires. Conclusively, the study done commutates the shift in cultural aspects and its reorientation and traditional values among Indo-Fijian living in Fiji.