Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

“Financial centre: diversification is the key”, Luc Frieden said in a recent propaganda video.

I would say: Financial centre: truth is the key.

It is no use repeating that Luxembourg is a regulated financial center that is not a tax haven, if blatant dysfunctions and risks are not solved.

This is the reason why LFF failed : it was a good idea but promotion turned out to be propaganda that does not work in a world of communication and information.

By ignoring the lax business environment that is attractive for fraudsters, LFF is not credible.

• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction, works that dare question on the dysfunctions are repudiated like the study from the Cercle de Cooperation?
• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction the penal liability of legal persons does not exist?
• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction, bogus professionals, that are neither regulatory auditors nor chartered accountants, go on creating firms that are actual scams?
• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction anybody can be a statutory auditor including exotic firms from the BVI, the Seychelles and so on, that are not controlled?
• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction ethics is not part of CSR, which is limited to promotion actions?
• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction the PSF status is used by some firms, and especially confidentiality, to prevent the manifestation of the truth before the justice by intimidating former employees with a complaint even though the testimony is fair (e.g. fraud or money laundering cases)?
• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction professionals who demonstrated their poor ethics and governance while having financial resources remain reputable and competent for the fellow members in their business networks?
• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction money from foreign taxpayers is accepted without control?
• Why is it that is this tiny jurisdiction parliamentary parties agree quickly to change the constitution against the Grand Duke while tergiversating to implement all the international recommendations (AML, fight against corruption)?

• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction 50% of banks never report a Suspicious Transaction Report?
• Why is it that in this tiny jurisdiction the financial sector that is an actual power influences the political decision-making process and the regulator?

• Etc.

The above are not "an unhealthy combination of gratuitous assertions, hearsay, half-truths and concocted lies " (ABBL wording to comment the study from the Cercle de Coopération) but are observations supported by facts in sources that are public or official.

These are observations that are of concern for clients and head offices of banks that have a subsidiary in Luxembourg.

These have been building Luxembourg as tax haven for many years and the other countries are not fooled.

For example, see Senate Bill 1069 (General Assembly of Pennsylvania) that was introduced the day before yesterday, page 15:

" Tax haven . " A jurisdiction that at the beginning of a taxable year is a tax haven as identified by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, plus the sovereignties of Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

OECD doesn't even count. This opens another problem: 50 US states may not care about Frieden's 12 or more agreements