Few aspects of international finance are more fascinating than secrecy. Images flash through the mind of suitcases crammed with currency crossing national boundaries, of close-mouthed couriers slipping easily into and out of airports, hotels and banking offices, of expatriates living handsomely along palm-shaded beaches with no visible means of support, of churning money laundries and quiet slush funds. All find their parallels in the real world. But there are many other, less dramatic but much more important images as well: the tax evader skimming unreported income into an offshore account; the briber shuffling funds to the bribee; the violator of securities laws squirreling away illegal profits; the insecure politician or government official building a retirement fund abroad; the businessman fleeing his creditors; the husband fleeing his wife; the law-abiding citizen fleeing exposure to political or economic risk. All are players in the global financial secrecy game.
Author(s): Ingo Walter
Publisher: Ballinger Publishing
Year: 1990
Language: English
Pages: 380
Tags: Economics;Politics;Legal;Case Law;Finance;Business and Industry;International finance;Capital movements;Secrecy;Banking;Confidential communications;Money Laundering;Smuggling;Misappropriation;Graft;Corruption;Bribery;
Front cover
Title page
Copyright © 1990
Contents
Tables, Figures and Exhibits
Preface
1 The World of Secret Money
The demand for financial secrecy
The supply of financial secrecy
The cost of secrecy
The price of secrecy
Market structure
Plan of attack
Note
2 What is Secret Money?
The underground economy
Internationalization of underground financial flows
Secret money vehicles
The problem of death
Summary
Notes
3 Demand for Secret Money: Capital Flight, Bribery and Corruption
4 Demand for Secret Money: Tax Evasion, Smuggling and Insider Trading
Tax evasion
Avoidance vs evasion
Smuggling
Violations of securities laws
Notes
5 Demand for Secret Money: Fraud
6 Demand for Secret Money: Money laundering and undercover activities
7 Supply of Secret Money
Elements of supply
Patterns of secrecy supply
Switzerland
Notes
8 Global Secrecy Havens
Caribbean and South Atlantic
Channel Islands
Gibraltar
Luxembourg
Panama
Other havens
United States
Summary
Notes
9 Combating International Financial Secrecy: Initiatives
10 Combating International Financial Secrecy; Patterns
11 Consequences
Economic effects
Political effects
Social effects
Personal effects
Summary
Notes
12 The Outlook
Notes
Annex 1. Theory of International Financial Secrecy
Annex 2. Catalog of US Cases Involving Bank or Commercial Secrecy
References
About the author
Back Cover
