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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The Guardian has reported that this year, Gurria, head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, made strong public statements about the failure of certain tax havens to disclose information to governments about suspected tax evaders. 'The question is the capacity of countries and third parties to make sure the origin and destination of the money is legitimate, not the product of an illegal activity ... I'm talking about taxes. That is bad, but almost tame compared to money laundering and organised crime trying to pass their money through legitimate accounts and systems.'
There is actually concern that the OECD is failing to come to grips with tax evasion. Scandals centring on Liechtenstein's biggest bank, owned by the head of state, and UBS bankers in the US have ratcheted up fears that tax havens are incapable of monitoring the battalions of accountants, lawyers and bankers stashing trillions of dollars away from national exchequers.

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The Times and other media have reported that a federal court took the unprecedented step of demanding that the Swiss bank hand over the names of as many as 20,000 of its customers

The US law requires a US taxpayer to report all financial accounts in a foreign country if the total value of the accounts exceeds $10,000. Failure to report a foreign account can lead to a penalty of up to 50 per cent of the amount in the account at the time of the violation.This is the first time that the US courts have authorised such a request over a foreign bank and the move could put it on a collision course with the authorities in Switzerland, where it is illegal for banks to disclose confidential information without client approval because of the banking secrecy.

In a statement, the bank said: “UBS takes this matter very seriously and is working diligently with both Swiss and US government authorities, consistent with Swiss law and the legal frameworks for intergovernmental cooperation and assistance.”