Dale D. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199216512
- eISBN:
- 9780191696008
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216512.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter presents another case study illustrating lower common denominator (LCD) outcome. Offshore finance is financial activity conducted outside the beneficiaries' national jurisdiction, ...
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This chapter presents another case study illustrating lower common denominator (LCD) outcome. Offshore finance is financial activity conducted outside the beneficiaries' national jurisdiction, usually in order to take advantage of less stringent regulations and the better rates this allows. The raison d'être of offshore finance is regulatory laxity. The incentives generally involve lax process regulations on the ‘production’ of financial services. Offshore finance allows firms to both circumvent and discourage restrictive national regulations. The chapter chronicles the flight to offshore financial centres from 1957 to 1988. It presents research on British banks, the Bank of England's support, and on American banks and government support, which illuminate how this system emerged. It discusses the benefits to offshore governments, and some recent moves to regulate money laundering through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).Less
This chapter presents another case study illustrating lower common denominator (LCD) outcome. Offshore finance is financial activity conducted outside the beneficiaries' national jurisdiction, usually in order to take advantage of less stringent regulations and the better rates this allows. The raison d'être of offshore finance is regulatory laxity. The incentives generally involve lax process regulations on the ‘production’ of financial services. Offshore finance allows firms to both circumvent and discourage restrictive national regulations. The chapter chronicles the flight to offshore financial centres from 1957 to 1988. It presents research on British banks, the Bank of England's support, and on American banks and government support, which illuminate how this system emerged. It discusses the benefits to offshore governments, and some recent moves to regulate money laundering through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Dale D. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199216512
- eISBN:
- 9780191696008
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216512.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
In order to understand international economic regulations, it is essential to understand the variation in competing corporations' interests. Political science theories have neglected the role of ...
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In order to understand international economic regulations, it is essential to understand the variation in competing corporations' interests. Political science theories have neglected the role of individual firms as causal actors. Theories of institutions have neglected to examine the creation of business law. Economic theories have neglected to apply concepts of asset specificity to social regulations in competitive industries. This book aims to fill these voids with a company-based explanation. Its theoretical findings open a ‘black box’ in the literature on international political economy and elucidate a source of regulatory differences and similarities. Counter-intuitive case studies reveal how business and governments actually interact. They also contribute to both sides of current debates over corporate social responsibility. They examine diverse topics including offshore finance, flags-of-convenience, CFC production, capital requirements, the importation and sale of ‘dolphin-lethal’ tuna, and the advertising of infant formulae. By exploring powerful corporations' investment profiles and regulatory strategies, this book explains why globalization sometimes results in a ‘race to the bottom’, sometimes in higher common regulations, and sometimes in regulations that differ between countries. Uniquely, it then explains which regulatory outcome is likely to occur under specified conditions. The explanation incorporates economics, political science, studies of regulatory capture, examinations of transaction costs, firms' regulatory strategies, and the roles of international institutions.Less
In order to understand international economic regulations, it is essential to understand the variation in competing corporations' interests. Political science theories have neglected the role of individual firms as causal actors. Theories of institutions have neglected to examine the creation of business law. Economic theories have neglected to apply concepts of asset specificity to social regulations in competitive industries. This book aims to fill these voids with a company-based explanation. Its theoretical findings open a ‘black box’ in the literature on international political economy and elucidate a source of regulatory differences and similarities. Counter-intuitive case studies reveal how business and governments actually interact. They also contribute to both sides of current debates over corporate social responsibility. They examine diverse topics including offshore finance, flags-of-convenience, CFC production, capital requirements, the importation and sale of ‘dolphin-lethal’ tuna, and the advertising of infant formulae. By exploring powerful corporations' investment profiles and regulatory strategies, this book explains why globalization sometimes results in a ‘race to the bottom’, sometimes in higher common regulations, and sometimes in regulations that differ between countries. Uniquely, it then explains which regulatory outcome is likely to occur under specified conditions. The explanation incorporates economics, political science, studies of regulatory capture, examinations of transaction costs, firms' regulatory strategies, and the roles of international institutions.
Dariusz Wójcik and Theodor F. Cojoianu
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- August 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198817314
- eISBN:
- 9780191858833
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198817314.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics, International
The chapter summarizes observations made in the preceding chapters, and complements them from a geographical perspective, putting developments in the eight countries and eleven financial centres ...
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The chapter summarizes observations made in the preceding chapters, and complements them from a geographical perspective, putting developments in the eight countries and eleven financial centres covered in the book in a global context. It starts by looking at the elite of the financial sector, comparing the world’s top centres of investment banking and asset management. Next, it broadens its focus by reviewing trends and patterns of employment in the financial and business services sector as a whole. The following section offers a glimpse of offshore finance and its development since the crisis. In addition, it provides an overview and comparison of developments in fintech and their potential impact on the global map of financial centres. The concluding section considers new geographical ways of conceptualizing relationships among financial centres, financial and business services, and offshore finance, and ends with suggestions for future research.Less
The chapter summarizes observations made in the preceding chapters, and complements them from a geographical perspective, putting developments in the eight countries and eleven financial centres covered in the book in a global context. It starts by looking at the elite of the financial sector, comparing the world’s top centres of investment banking and asset management. Next, it broadens its focus by reviewing trends and patterns of employment in the financial and business services sector as a whole. The following section offers a glimpse of offshore finance and its development since the crisis. In addition, it provides an overview and comparison of developments in fintech and their potential impact on the global map of financial centres. The concluding section considers new geographical ways of conceptualizing relationships among financial centres, financial and business services, and offshore finance, and ends with suggestions for future research.
Louçã Francisco and Ash Michael
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198828211
- eISBN:
- 9780191866883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198828211.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics, Financial Economics
Chapter 9 traces a history of bubbles and financial scandals from the Dutch tulip mania of the seventeenth century to frauds associated with European colonization of the Americas to financial ...
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Chapter 9 traces a history of bubbles and financial scandals from the Dutch tulip mania of the seventeenth century to frauds associated with European colonization of the Americas to financial misdeeds of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Dirty finance is everywhere. Sometimes it is the source of the funds: the world’s most reputable banks have handled funds from highly disreputable sources. In other cases, clean wealth goes through dirty handling. Offshore finance shelters the great family fortunes, at the edge of legality. High frequency trading blurs the line between quick wits and market manipulation. Cartels of traders enrich themselves at the expense of clients. The rating agencies rate complex securities as sound with minimal investigation. In the Libor scandal, the biggest banks conspired to mislead the world about inter-bank lending. A description of the instruments, transactions, and the mechanisms of manipulation and fraud is provided.Less
Chapter 9 traces a history of bubbles and financial scandals from the Dutch tulip mania of the seventeenth century to frauds associated with European colonization of the Americas to financial misdeeds of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Dirty finance is everywhere. Sometimes it is the source of the funds: the world’s most reputable banks have handled funds from highly disreputable sources. In other cases, clean wealth goes through dirty handling. Offshore finance shelters the great family fortunes, at the edge of legality. High frequency trading blurs the line between quick wits and market manipulation. Cartels of traders enrich themselves at the expense of clients. The rating agencies rate complex securities as sound with minimal investigation. In the Libor scandal, the biggest banks conspired to mislead the world about inter-bank lending. A description of the instruments, transactions, and the mechanisms of manipulation and fraud is provided.
Alexandra Gillies
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190940706
- eISBN:
- 9780190940737
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190940706.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics, Political Economy
Corruption is an international undertaking. A global cast of enablers, including oil-rich players from Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, Caribbean letterbox companies, banks in Switzerland and Singapore, ...
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Corruption is an international undertaking. A global cast of enablers, including oil-rich players from Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, Caribbean letterbox companies, banks in Switzerland and Singapore, American real estate agents, and the giant investment bank Goldman Sachs, helped an ambitious young Malaysian businessman capture and spend over $4 billion in just a few years. Most oil boom corruption cases followed roughly the same playbook: spirit away illicit funds via offshore shell companies and bank accounts and then sink them into foreign property, businesses, luxury goods, and public relations campaigns. Through these channels, corrupt money and its destabilizing influence spread around the world.Less
Corruption is an international undertaking. A global cast of enablers, including oil-rich players from Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, Caribbean letterbox companies, banks in Switzerland and Singapore, American real estate agents, and the giant investment bank Goldman Sachs, helped an ambitious young Malaysian businessman capture and spend over $4 billion in just a few years. Most oil boom corruption cases followed roughly the same playbook: spirit away illicit funds via offshore shell companies and bank accounts and then sink them into foreign property, businesses, luxury goods, and public relations campaigns. Through these channels, corrupt money and its destabilizing influence spread around the world.
Petr Janský, Andres Knobel, Markus Meinzer, Tereza Palanská, and Miroslav Palanský
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198854722
- eISBN:
- 9780191888922
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198854722.003.0008
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, International, Microeconomics
The EU faces large amounts of financial secrecy supplied to it by secrecy jurisdictions. In this chapter, we use the Bilateral Financial Secrecy Index to quantify which jurisdictions supply most ...
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The EU faces large amounts of financial secrecy supplied to it by secrecy jurisdictions. In this chapter, we use the Bilateral Financial Secrecy Index to quantify which jurisdictions supply most secrecy to EU Member States. The chapter assesses the progress of two recent EU policy efforts to tackle financial secrecy: automatic exchange of country-by-country reporting (CbCR) data and black and grey list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. It is found that 34 per cent of the financial secrecy faced by the EU is supplied by other Member States, whose a priori exclusion from the blacklisting exercise reveals its fundamental flaw. Further 13 per cent is supplied by the EU’s dependencies, mainly the UK’s Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and Guernsey. The jurisdictions that supply the most secrecy not covered by automatic information exchange of CbCR data are the British Virgin Islands, United States, and Curacao. Finally the chapter discusses policy recommendations that stem from our analysis.Less
The EU faces large amounts of financial secrecy supplied to it by secrecy jurisdictions. In this chapter, we use the Bilateral Financial Secrecy Index to quantify which jurisdictions supply most secrecy to EU Member States. The chapter assesses the progress of two recent EU policy efforts to tackle financial secrecy: automatic exchange of country-by-country reporting (CbCR) data and black and grey list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. It is found that 34 per cent of the financial secrecy faced by the EU is supplied by other Member States, whose a priori exclusion from the blacklisting exercise reveals its fundamental flaw. Further 13 per cent is supplied by the EU’s dependencies, mainly the UK’s Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and Guernsey. The jurisdictions that supply the most secrecy not covered by automatic information exchange of CbCR data are the British Virgin Islands, United States, and Curacao. Finally the chapter discusses policy recommendations that stem from our analysis.
Eric Sheppard
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199681167
- eISBN:
- 9780191761249
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199681167.003.0008
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Earth exceeds globalizing capitalism, whose raggedy edges are characterized by a complex dialectic. While such edges are enrolled in its expansion, they consistently exceed its logic (challenging its ...
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Earth exceeds globalizing capitalism, whose raggedy edges are characterized by a complex dialectic. While such edges are enrolled in its expansion, they consistently exceed its logic (challenging its globalization), unpredictably transforming globalizing capitalism and more-than-capitalist processes. Karl Polanyi’s fictitious commodities, people, Earth, and finance, are such raggedy edges. People and Earth instantiate distinct processes from those of commodity production. These can be enrolled in globalizing capitalism through accumulation by dispossession and the commodification of nature and culture. Yet, with globalizing capitalism failing to realize its promise, they also undermine and challenge it through the agencies of civil society and the more-than-human world. Financialization facilitates and disrupts globalizing capitalism in other ways, including post-Bretton Woods financial crises, reflecting its emergence as the ultimate, virtual, unlimited commodity. All three tend to reinforce the unequalizing implications of uneven, asymmetric connectivities.Less
Earth exceeds globalizing capitalism, whose raggedy edges are characterized by a complex dialectic. While such edges are enrolled in its expansion, they consistently exceed its logic (challenging its globalization), unpredictably transforming globalizing capitalism and more-than-capitalist processes. Karl Polanyi’s fictitious commodities, people, Earth, and finance, are such raggedy edges. People and Earth instantiate distinct processes from those of commodity production. These can be enrolled in globalizing capitalism through accumulation by dispossession and the commodification of nature and culture. Yet, with globalizing capitalism failing to realize its promise, they also undermine and challenge it through the agencies of civil society and the more-than-human world. Financialization facilitates and disrupts globalizing capitalism in other ways, including post-Bretton Woods financial crises, reflecting its emergence as the ultimate, virtual, unlimited commodity. All three tend to reinforce the unequalizing implications of uneven, asymmetric connectivities.
