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U.S. response to the Panama Papers: A step in the right direction but more action is needed

The massive leak dubbed the Panama Papers has given the UK Anti-Corruption Summit on May 12 an unexpected boost. Those coming to the summit, now including the U.S., are lining up to make announcements about the steps they are taking to tackle corruption and specifically financial secrecy. On Thursday the Obama Administration announced a series […]

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How to win back trust in banks

The culture of profit before service at banks has led to a spate of serious scandals that have destroyed the public’s trust in the banking system. In March Transparency International wrote to the G30, a group of senior representatives of the private and public sectors and academia, which was tasked to develop recommendations on what […]

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Deutsche Bank settlement: does the punishment fit the crime?

Germany’s biggest bank, Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay a record US$2.5 billion in fines to US and UK authorities after one of its subsidiaries pleaded guilty to wire fraud for its role in manipulating LIBOR. This is more than your everyday bank scandal: LIBOR has an impact on millions of people, if not billions […]

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Redefining success: incentives for cultural change in banks

Despite the bailouts and regulation after the 2008 financial crisis, unethical behaviour at banks has cost shareholders close to US$10 billion over the past two years in the form of fines. No wonder there is fierce competition on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly now as banks are beginning to report their results, over diminishing […]

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Corruption and banking: forex heralds an important change in rhetoric

This week’s announcement about the rigging of the foreign exchange markets marks one significant change: at last, the media and the Chancellor are using the word corruption to describe this behaviour. Today we take tough action to clean up corruption.” – UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne Since the financial crisis started in 2008, banks have been fined […]

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Vietnam: young people debate business integrity

Vietnam is one of the most attractive emerging markets for international businesses. Even though growth rates have slowed compared to a few years ago, they still look attractive in a challenging global economic climate. However, corruption risks and lack of transparency in key sectors are regularly pointed out as threats to competitiveness and sustainable progress. […]

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Piketty: Diagnosing inequality and prescribing a dose of anti-corruption

It’s the blockbuster policy book of the year: Thomas Piketty’s weighty Capital in the 21st Century, a 600 plus-page analysis of the scale and perils of rising inequality. As Piketty argues, wealth and return on capital are growing faster than the overall economy and income from labour. Making matters worse, labour income is becoming increasingly […]

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Investigating corruption: gagging the press is not a good idea

On 30 July it emerged that the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia had issued a suppression order to stop the media from reporting key details of a scandal that involved foreign bribery in the printing of Australian bank notes, allegedly implicating people from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. The court order is apparently in the […]

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From CEO to whistleblower

Shortly after being appointed CEO of the Japan-based company Olympus, Michael Woodford discovered a massive case of fraud within the company. When he tried to raise the alarm internally, calling on board members to explain the exorbitant fees – amounting to hundreds of millions of US dollars – paid to obscure companies, some of them […]

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Shelving the shells

From one corruption fighting organisation to another, hats off to Global Witness. Founder Charmian Gooch and her colleagues have been recognised for their stellar efforts to highlight the damage done by corrupt practices in the extractives sector. In her award winning TED talk, Gooch highlighted the role of ‘the facilitators’ – global banks and global […]

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