Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

Nearly two-thirds of senior executives around the world say they have experienced some form of actual or
attempted corruption in their business dealings, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report, 'Confronting Corruption: The business case for an effective anti-corruption programme,' finds that almost 80 percent of executives say they have anti-corruption programs in place at their company, but only 22 percent are confident the programs are effective. Executives say they feel vulnerable to corruption particularly when doing business in expanding markets such as China, India, Russia and South America.

PwC has no corruption contact for Switzerland and Luxembourg, two major financial centers.

But the situation is more worying in Luxembourg than it is Switzerland as
- there is a Transparency International chapter in Switzerland, which is not the case in Luxembourg
- according to the Global Corruption Barometer 2007 issued by Transparency International, 6 % of respondents in Luxembourg reported they paid a bribe to obtain a service. To be compared to 1 % of respondents in France or Switzerland, 2 % in the UK or in the Netherlands and 5% European average. Luxembourg is in the third quintile (6 – 18%) with countries like Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Panama, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, and Vietnam,
- OECD has recently urged Luxembourg to introduce liability of legal persons when at the same time the GRECO took a particularly positive view of the seizure and confiscation system and of criminal liability on the part of legal persons. Neither GRECO report, nor OECD reports relating to corruption seem officially communicated in Luxembourg when other non sensitive reports from the OECD are communicated (for instance the Economic survey of Luxembourg).


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