Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

According to the OECD, advances are being achieved in bringing greater transparency to financial centres around the world, but progress on exchange of information on tax issues is more limited, according to OECD’s latest report on its drive to bring more fairness to cross-border tax co-operation.
Significant restrictions on access to bank information for tax purposes remain in three OECD countries – Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland – and in a number of offshore financial centres, including Liechtenstein, Panama and Singapore. Further, a number of offshore financial centres that committed to implement the standards on transparency and the effective exchange of information developed by the OECD’s Global Forum on Taxation have failed to follow through.

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Eric Woerth is willing to organise whith his german colleague Peer Steinbrück a meeting with OECD members in October or November about tax havens.
He stated that a tax haven is like a paradis fiscal acts like a poacher that go without legislation to the groundà of someone who abide by the law."
He added that he is willing to go much farther in the control of tax havens and that the responsibility if up to the international community.

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Some Fortis press releases in 2008 are worth reading


25 January 2008 : Fortis confirms sound capital and solvency position and unchanged dividend policy

3 April 2008 : Fortis Banque Luxembourg achieves a net profit of EUR 676.8 million : Vigorous profitability confirmed. The crisis is not taken into account.

18 August 2008 : Fortis Banque Luxembourg - solid performance in first half-year 2008: Six-month net profit exceeds EUR 380 million


The annual report 2007 underlines three times that the bank does not have any subprime exposure.


Page 13

Exceptional, non-recurrent income was significantly lower than in 2006. Moreover, while we did not ourselves take positions with sub-prime exposure, our bank suffered, like many others, from the impact of the crisis on financial markets and the general business environment. As a result, net earnings were lower for the parent company alone; at consolidated level, they were equal to the previous year's record results

Page 19

In view of the turbulence resulting from the crisis in the US mortgage market and which affected financial markets, it is important to note that the Bank does not have any subprime exposure and has been particularly attentive to the management of credit risks and liquidity, in keeping with the Bank's traditional caution.

Page 28

In view of the turbulence resulting from the crisis in the US mortgage market and which affected financial markets, it is important to note that the Bank does not have any subprime exposure and has been particularly attentive to the management of credit risks and liquidity, in keeping with the Bank's traditional caution.


The report of the Reviseur d’Entreprise dated March 2008 unfortunately does not quote the subprime crisis and the potential risk.

In my opinion the auditor should have taken into account the risk by stating a reserve because of the incertainty due to the subprime environment and the lack of traceability of the financial derivatives markets and a possible indirect exposure because of the business relationships with financial institutions with direct exposure. Luxembourg is not a sanctuary. He relied to much on the preparation and presentation of too optimistic financial statements at a time when the subprime risk was growing worldwide.

Luxembourg, where the leading audit firm consider that clients' confidence if the cornerstone to the job, probably reduces the subprime problem in many audits all the more than clients want to demonstrate their growth (see Fortis motto "rise2" in the last press release dated 18 September 2008 that sounds strange today : Confirmed vigour of financial performance with net profit for the first half reaching a high EUR 388.4 million).

As I said, it is important to focus on long-term business issues as achieving quality in production and developing good relations with stakeholders (clients, staff, suppliers and the community) who are the actual addressees of audit reports, and not just on short-term results that are figures.

As Kenneth Blanchard said, "Managing only for Profit is like playing tennis with your eye on the scoreboard and not on the ball" (K. Blanchard, The power of Ethical Management. Ballantine, 1988, p. 109).



Which bank located in Luxembourg will be next ?