Financial Transparency Coalition

IPPR produced a report on globalisation last week. With a forward by Lord Mandelson the report was written by Will Straw and Alex Glennie. I admit I don’t agree with either Mandelson or Straw; they have a political perspective I don’t always share but this report has merit to it, as others have also noted since its publication. It represents a clear change of heart on Peter Mandelson’s part, and that I welcome.

Yesterday, Colombia's Prosecutor-General, Viviane Morales, spoke about the pervasive role money laundering plays in Colombia's economy while participating in Pan American Congress on Money Laundering Risk and Terrorism Financing in the city of Cartagena. She cited statistics from her government that place the scale of money laundering at $8 billion, roughly 3% of GDP. She also said the government lacked the ability to effectively address the situation. The eStandards Foundation, which montiors financial standards around the world, had this to say about Colombian compliance programs: he U.S. Department of State (DoS) reported in 2008 that the banking...