Greece has quietly rewritten its tax laws and landed two of the world's biggest hedge funds, a story Bloomberg describes...

Greece has quietly rewritten its tax laws and landed two of the world's biggest hedge funds, a story Bloomberg describes as a shift from bailout recipient to rival of London's financial center. Millennium Management, one of the largest multi-strategy hedge funds on the planet, registered an Athens office in July after Greece passed new legislation in June. The law gives fund managers who move their tax residency to Greece a 5% rate on carried interest and bonuses, a significant discount compared to rising tax burdens in the UK. Chris Rokos, founder of Rokos Capital Management, made the move even more striking. Abu Dhabi had announced in May that Rokos would open its first office in the emirate, but last week it emerged Rokos himself chose Athens over the UAE when he left the UK. That unexpected decision put Athens on the map for the global trading world. Greek officials had been working behind the scenes for months to make this happen. Vasilis Karatzas, a senior adviser to Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, told Bloomberg that Greece is fiscally healthy, running consistent surpluses, and offering the kind of tax predictability wealthy relocators demand. Greece has held its flat 100,000 euro annual tax on foreign income steady since 2019, while Italy has already doubled the equivalent figure to 300,000 euros. The UAE's appeal took a hit when the US-Iran war triggered retaliatory strikes against Emirates territory, prompting some finance professionals to reconsider the region. Jason Kennedy, a hedge fund recruitment specialist, told Bloomberg that many who had relocated to the Middle East are now looking for alternatives. The opposition in Greece has called the new framework a tax haven, a charge officials reject. Karatzas said the goal is to create high-quality jobs, bring skilled Greeks home, and build a new financial ecosystem, not to shield the wealthy from tax. Greece's economy has grown faster than most of Europe in recent years and regained investment-grade ratings from all major agencies since 2023. #Greece #Finance #HedgeFunds