Financial Transparency Coalition

Last week, Task Force member Global Financial Integrity hosted a panel discussion to discuss Laurence Cockcroft's new book, Global Corruption: Power, Money, and Ethics in the Modern World. Panelists include Cockcroft, GFI and Task Force Director Raymond Baker, Center for Concern President Les Myers, and Fairfax Group CEO Michael Hershman. Cockcroft is a prominent development economist, and a founding member of Transparency International-UK.

Shruti Shah of Transparency International-USA wrote a great op-ed on Devex last week. Ms. Shah connects the dots between the crimes committed at HSBC, the influx of money to the United States from kleptocrats like Teodorin Obiang, and the hundreds of thousands of anonymous shell corporations created every year in the United States. The result? Individuals are able to use the United States and its institutions to, "export, launder and conceal ill-gotten gains" derived from corruption.

How banks implement international financial sanctions may not strike many as the sexiest news story of the day, but its importance comes alive when one remembers that holding a banking license and taking deposits from the public at large is not a right, but a privilege. It is bestowed on certain companies by the public through government regulators and it should make banks accountable to that same public.

Europe’s rankings in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 are as diverse as the region itself. Clearly the perceived level of corruption in Greece (94th, the lowest EU state) is entirely different from that of Denmark and Finland, tied with New Zealand in first place. However, the old adage that corruption only occurs in the countries of the South, rings rather hollow.