Financial Transparency Coalition

Paul Collier of Oxford is speaking at the Task Force – he chairs its economists panel. One third of Africa’s wealth is outside Africa he says. If returned that would increase its capital by 50%. And as he notes the social return on capital on that in Africa would be vastly, vastly more in Africa than it could ever be outside because capital is so scarce in Africa. And as he also points out – the true cost of corruption is the defeat of honest politicians...

Staggering – capital flight out of South Africa could be 20% of GDP. That’s massive organised theft. And the big increase is transfer mispricing. That is corporate theft. Don’t tell me that corproations don’t help create poverty in these places. They do so deliberately. This data from economists at the University of Witswaterand, Johannesburg.

Chip Poncy of the US Treasury is talking on ‘know your client’ obligations as required in FATF rules – those things places like Jersey like to say they comply with. The trouble is, he says, is that FATF risk based assessment procedures mean commercial banks can decide not to investigate beneficial ownership. They let them decide when to do so. He says that’s not good enough. His solution is simple: FATF should require that beneficial ownership be proved in every case. And unless ownership rests in a proven public company then what he wants to know are ‘who are the...

Good to hear Matthew Rosen of the New York County District Attorney’s Office (Morgenthau’s team in other words) saying that the big problem with regard to shell companies in the USA is home grown. Tackle the problem of failing to collect data on beneficial ownership in the USA he says and you remove the biggest support to crime that the States now provides to white collar criminals. He described that as the certificate of incorporation of a US company. The failure to act he says hurts US credibility, harms the fight on crime and undermines all attempts to beat terrorist financing. So...