Financial Transparency Coalition

Well, almost. While writing Treasure Islands, a couple of friends would refer to my "book about money-laudering" and I would have to correct them, saying something along the lines of 'no, this is about something much, much bigger than money-laundering. It's about tax havens.' Anthea Lawson of Global Witness, one of the great organisations tackling the scourge of dirty money, has an excellent piece in the FT, looking at the oceans of money salted out of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya (and others). There's tons to recommend in the article - notably this ...

In the space between anarchy and democracy lies dictatorship. Lest we forget this lesson from our history classes, the Arab revolutions of these last few months have refreshed our collective memories. Revolutions are messy things. First a little history. On July 14, 1789 a French mob successfully stormed the Bastille fortress. This moment marked a tipping point in the French Revolution, which later gave rise to a representative government in France. Historians have called this Revolution the “dawn of the modern era” when republicanism became “an enduring option.” Today its legacy is fundamentally entwined with our concept of...

The European presidency has just issued a note advocating a push to increase financial transparency in Europe through its Savings Tax Directive. As they say:

"The Presidency attaches crucial importance to gear up bilateral talks in order to reach political agreement upon the adoption of the Savings Tax Directive in the very near future."

Unsurprisingly, there are some rather large flies in this ointment. Austria and Luxembourg have long been holdouts on the European Savings Tax Directive, working hard behind...

I note the new Chair of Cayman Finance seems determined to continue in the tradition of his predecessor. Interim Chairman Roy McTaggart , who recently succeeded Anthony Travers OBE, has sent a letter to Ronnie Campbell, MP because  he referred to the Cayman Islands as a tax haven during a debate in the House of Commons last week. McTaggart said, according to Cayman News Service, that:

Cayman is a fully transparent jurisdiction and not a place where individuals or corporations are able to “hide money”.

And, of course, the ritual denial that Cayman is a tax haven was delivered. I’d have hoped that,...