Ex-Swiss banker found guilty in WikiLeaks trial, avoids jail Reuters See also recent blogs Will Antoine Deltour become a prisoner of conscience? and Tax haven whistleblowers: where are the human rights organisations? U.S. regulators question whether Credit Suisse has rule-breaking culture … [Read more...]
Finance Sector
Links – Jan 16
Company beneficial ownership register to open in April 2016 STEP New UK corporate transparency measures allow applications for anonymity. See also: UK: Implementation of Company filing requirements and corporate transparency measures and the register of people with significant control ("PSC … [Read more...]
Is a financial sector like an oil industry? That graph, again
There's been a bit of pushback (of course) to our Finance Curse analysis, which some people think is just an empty slogan. It isn't. Our basic proposition is that hosting a large financial services industry can be like hosting an oil industry: there are many penalties associated with doing so, … [Read more...]
Links Jan 15
Switzerland unveils draft laws to dismantle bank secrecy Financial Times (paywall) "The Swiss government has taken a further step towards dismantling its once untouchable bank secrecy laws, by unveiling draft legislation that would pave the way for automatic information exchange about offshore … [Read more...]
Quote 2 of the day – Big Banks, Credit Suisse, and financial crime
A second quote of the day, from U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, following our quote from Switzerland earlier: "If large financial institutions can break the law and accumulate millions in profits, and if they get caught, settle by paying out of those profits, they do not have much incentive to … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: Swiss Franc
The value of the Swiss Franc exploded upwards this morning, after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) removed its fairly longstanding 1:1.2 peg against the Euro (that is, 1.2 Swiss Francs per Euro.) That is an astonishing currency move. Our quote of the day comes from Nicolas Hayek, the chief executive of … [Read more...]
Links Jan 14
Tax evasion/Luxembourg leaks: EU Parliament inquiry committee gains cross-political support and must be swiftly put in place The Greens / European Free Alliance in the European Parliament See also: MEPs urge Schulz to set up inquiry committee on tax evasion EurActiv Credit Suisse to Face Nader … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: offices of UK tax tribunal owned offshore
The quote of the day is from the British investigative and satirical magazine Private Eye: "Buildings occupied by the Ministry of Justice, including Britain’s tax tribunal, are – almost unbelievably – owned offshore in a Mediterranean tax haven, while the attorney-general works from a London … [Read more...]
Links Jan 13
OECD Global Forum agrees to Luxembourg transparency review Luxemburger Wort Billions of rands leave South Africa under the radar Times Live FDI inflows: Who is investing in India and in what sectors? Financial Express "While Singapore and Mauritius have swapped places as top investors in … [Read more...]
Links Jan 12
WikiLeaks Banker Called Traitor as Prosecutor Seeks Jail Bloomberg See also recent blogs Tax haven whistleblowers: where are the human rights organisations? and Show trial of Swiss whistleblower Elmer now in 9th year Luxleaks: Parliament could still set up a committee of inquiry euranet … [Read more...]
Credit Suisse’s U.S. public hearing on Wednesday
A guest blog by Heather Lowe of Global Financial Integrity, with thanks: As many of you know, Credit Suisse AG (CSAG) was convicted in November of U.S. felony charges relating to assisting (and soliciting) tax evasion by U.S. taxpayers. A consequence of this felony conviction is that, according … [Read more...]
Links Jan 8
Public consultation rejects beneficial ownership registry Cayman Compass Where have all the tax avoiders gone? Mike Lewis' blog An overview of the state of the tax avoidance debate Scale and Consequences of Capital Flight from Africa The Real News $2 lost for every $1 gained: the single … [Read more...]
Links Jan 7
LuxLeaks Scandal Reveals International “Race to the Bottom” Economy Watch LuxLeaks informant faces up to 10-years in prison Luxemburger Wort See also article linked yesterday: World unites to decry prosecution of source behind LuxLeaks tax scandal The Guardian, and the open letter to Luxembourg … [Read more...]
Financing for Whose Development? How Official Development Finance Institutions support Tax Havens
This is an extract from an article by Eurodad's Mathieu Vervynckt, in which he discusses the Third UN Conference on Financing for Development (FfD), set to take place in Addis Ababa next year as a crucial opportunity to discuss both the use of scarce public resources to leverage private sector … [Read more...]
The New Year Wrapper
Ahmadinejad: “he was my driver” The Mafia Capitale scandal has been gripping Italy over the last few months. It involves the corrupt award of public sector contracts in Rome to a network of people associated with extreme right-wing and neo-fascist movements. … [Read more...]
