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the banking activity of Guardian Bank.
The credible evidence before us, however, is sparse and
establishes only that Stanford Financial performed administrative
and management support services for Guardian Bank. It does not
establish that Stanford Financial engaged in any banking or
financing activity described in section 1.864-4(c)(5)(i), Income
Tax Regs. Administrative and management services of the
generalized type conducted by Stanford Financial do not qualify
as banking or financing activity for this purpose. Stanford
Financial did not have a banking license.
Petitioners also argue that Stanford Financial provided
services to Guardian Bank "similar" to the business of banking.
We are not persuaded on this record that the administrative and
management services performed by Stanford Financial for Guardian
Bank qualify as activities similar to those of a banking or
financing business.
The manner by which petitioner structured the ownership
relationship between Guardian Bank, Guardian Services, and
Stanford Financial, as petitioners allege, may have related to
anticipated changes in the laws of Montserrat relating to
banking. On the evidence before us, however, anticipated changes
in Montserrat law do not provide a sufficient basis to ignore
differences between the banking activity of Guardian Bank and the
administrative and management activities of Stanford Financial.
We conclude that Stanford Financial was not engaged in a
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