Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has scheduled a hearing, "Tax Haven Banks and U. S. Tax Compliance," on Thursday, July 17, 2008, at 9:30 a.m., in Room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing will examine how financial institutions located in offshore tax havens, including Liechtenstein and Switzerland, may be engaged in banking practices that could facilitate, and in some instances have resulted in, tax evasion and other misconduct by U.S. clients. The hearing will also examine how U.S. domestic and international tax enforcement efforts could be strengthened. The Subcommittee expects to issue a Subcommittee staff report in conjunction with the hearing summarizing its investigative findings.

The witnesses will be :

Witnesses

Panel 1
THE HONORABLE DOUGLAS H. SHULMAN , Commissioner , Internal Revenue Service , Washington, D.C.
THE HONORABLE KEVIN O’CONNOR , Associate Attorney General , U. S. Department of Justice , Washington, D.C.

Panel 2
MR. SHANNON MARSH , Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
MR. WILLIAM WU , Forest Hills, New York
MR. PETER S. LOWY , Beverly Hills, California
MR. STEVEN GREENFIELD , New York, New York


Panel 3
MR. MARTIN LIECHTI , Head, UBS Wealth Management Americas , Zurich, Switzerland


Panel 4
MR. MARK BRANSON , Chief Financial Officer , UBS Global Wealth Management and Business Banking , Zurich, Switzerland
REPRESENTATIVE , LGT Group , Vaduz, Liechtenstein


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the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to integrate the offshore financial center (OFC) assessment program with the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP).
This integration aims to (i) facilitate a more uniform and risk-based approach to financial sector surveillance and improve coordination of Fund analysis across jurisdictions; (ii) provide for a better allocation of Fund resources, with a specific focus on the small number of OFCs that account for the overwhelming volume of offshore activity and could be expected to pose major financial system risks; and (iii) eliminate the need to maintain a potentially discriminatory list of OFC jurisdictions.


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This is what was stated the day before yesterday on the topics of corruption an tax havens.

Corruption

19. We call for the ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) by all countries and a strong and consistent follow-up of the Bali Conference by ensuring effective implementation of UNCAC, including the development of a review mechanism. Reaffirming our previous commitments, we will redouble our efforts to deny safe havens through our national laws to public officials found guilty of corruption and strengthen international cooperation on asset recovery including supporting initiatives of relevant international organizations such as the Stolen Asset Recovery(StAR) Initiative promoted by the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). We also recognize the importance of technical assistance to partner countries in their own efforts to implement the Convention.
We will also strengthen enforcement of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions with the commitment to continue effective monitoring through the implementation of a rigorous and permanent peer review mechanism and call for accession to the Convention by emerging countries. We endorsed an enhanced accountability report detailing actions of each G8 member to implement the anticorruption commitments we have undertaken in the G8, and agreed to update it annually.

Abuses of the Financial System

20. We urge all countries that have not yet fully implemented the OECD standards of transparency and effective exchange of information in tax matters to do so without further delay, and encourage the OECD to strengthen its work on tax evasion and report back in 2010.



Unfortunately these sensitive topics (tax haven, corruption, tax) are not quoted at all in the Press Conference by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda that took place yesterday.