Tag Archives | global financial integrity

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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Do settlements for corporate financial malfeasance work?

This week Standard Chartered Bank reached a second settlement with regulators in New York for failing to monitor suspicious financial transactions. It had also promised to tighten up its anti-money laundering processes when it admitted violating US banking rules on transactions with countries under sanction including Sudan and Iran. Perhaps it didn’t get the message. […]

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New year’s resolution: learn the language of bankers

If you have not yet made it to the gym, fear not. Exchange that new year’s resolution for another: learn a new language. But make sure you learn one which has a more practical purpose than ordering a drink or finding one’s way to the swimming pool. It’s time to learn the lingo of bankers […]

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Will Britain tackle tax evasion?

317 Pressure on what are alternatively called ‘offshore havens’, ‘tax havens305’ or ‘secrecy jurisdictions’ is reaching an unprecedented level. There are more than fifty such havens world wide, and governments are finally coming around to the idea voiced by activists that tougher regulation is needed. The economic crisis has lent urgency to the cause. Britain’s […]

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Nigerian oil in turmoil

The removal of fuel subsidies in Nigeria has hit the poorest sections of society hardest. Amid huge protests, the government has used corruption and smuggling in the oil industry to justify its actions. There are other ways to tackle oil industry corruption that do not have such unfortunate side effects. 2012 kicked off with the […]

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What do we know about stolen assets in the Middle East?

Elizabeth Johnson is an intern in Transparency International’s Research and Knowledge Department The 2011 turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa has illuminated the issue of stolen assets. The publicly available figures on this issue are startling, even while concrete numbers have been difficult to find because monies are moved illicitly through shadow operations […]

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