Research on secrecy jurisdictions [findings here] has shown that the Isle of Man is one of 60 international secrecy jurisdictions with a defined transparency score of only 17%.
Recently the Isle of Man & Oxford University hosted a conference of financial personnel from 24 of the world's smallest nations. The Isle of Man was upholding itself as 'top of the form' hence well qualified to come to the front of the class to lecture & tutor the rest of the boys & girls on good financial governance. Guess what? 11 of these countries were in the list of 60 secrecy jurisdictions, and they made up 48% of the total of 24 attending the conference.
The small nations in the list of secrecy jurisdictions attending were:
Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Cook Islands, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & Grenadines, & Vanuatu.
Does that not sound rather like chums in the finance business meeting together to share notes on how best to make money out of operating as offshore finance centres? Is it not rather a case of 'birds of a feather flocking together?'
I found no evidence that any of the 24 small nations could hang their heads in shame by matching the record of the IoM's 3 failed banks, & no record that any of them had lost the savings of over 10,000 depositors during the previous 12 months.
John Aspden, Chief of the FSC, said last week that the loss suffered by Kaupthing bank depositors had nothing to do with wrongdoing on the Isle of Man. Who is he kidding? How arrogantly proud he stood to lecture on the jurisprudence of financial regulation on the Isle of Man, whilst thousands of depositors still waited to be paid compensation for his failure to vouchsafe their savings.
John Aspden's days are numbered.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Gone are the days of trust when an Englisman's word was his bond.
I reproduce hereunder the words of a dispossessed Kaupthing depositor which sums up well the feelings of expats everywhere whose trust in the Isle of Man has been not only betrayed but ridiculed as though that were not a valid basis for putting one's life savings on deposit in a bank on the Isle of Man.
"No matter where you save (not invest) your money, be it offshore in the British Islands, or even in Timbuktu, permission is not given for others to purloin, take, squander or steal your hard-earned money - and that applies whether you are an immigrant or an expat.....
When you have been expatriate for many years and have built a long-term rapport with your bank or building society, it is not felt necessary to continually check up on them, similarly, when that reputable building society [the Derbyshore] tells you that they are moving the business on to another reputable company and they strongly recommend that you give that company [KSFIoM] your continued support, there are many of us from an era when an Englishman's word was true and we would not believe other than things were being said honestly for the benefit of all involved.
That type of thinking seems incredibly naive and foolish now, especially when after 16 years of dedicated saving, my £397,000 has disappeared into another bank in the UK [that went bust] and I will be lucky to see even 1/2 of it back - and then it will be too late.
So you see, there are people out there like us who just moved temporarily overseas because they chased jobs or adventure, that worked hard, but were not that financially astute. Had we been, we'd have probably been a lot more adventurous with our money then just saving it in a boring bank - but we're that sort of people I think: those that don't risk their life-savings in anything dodgy, but really believed that putting it in a bank was the safest thing to do. Now we've been proven to be inadequate fools, and people have taken advantage of our situation of being spread all around the globe with no representation; no vote; and no power to do anything other than appeal through the press.
Doing that of course brings the risk of others having a dig and a bash at us - and maybe we deserve to be labelled as foolish - but we didn't act maliciously towards others, nor take them to task for being inadequate in one part of their lives; we merely expected that those persons charged with looking after the finances of their country was to properly do the job they get so highly paid for and look after the interests of those who are not so clever in this department. They didn't do their job, they let us down and they let their country down, they all turned a blind eye until it was too late, now the unsophisticated expat depositors - working or retired - carry this huge loss."
"No matter where you save (not invest) your money, be it offshore in the British Islands, or even in Timbuktu, permission is not given for others to purloin, take, squander or steal your hard-earned money - and that applies whether you are an immigrant or an expat.....
When you have been expatriate for many years and have built a long-term rapport with your bank or building society, it is not felt necessary to continually check up on them, similarly, when that reputable building society [the Derbyshore] tells you that they are moving the business on to another reputable company and they strongly recommend that you give that company [KSFIoM] your continued support, there are many of us from an era when an Englishman's word was true and we would not believe other than things were being said honestly for the benefit of all involved.
That type of thinking seems incredibly naive and foolish now, especially when after 16 years of dedicated saving, my £397,000 has disappeared into another bank in the UK [that went bust] and I will be lucky to see even 1/2 of it back - and then it will be too late.
So you see, there are people out there like us who just moved temporarily overseas because they chased jobs or adventure, that worked hard, but were not that financially astute. Had we been, we'd have probably been a lot more adventurous with our money then just saving it in a boring bank - but we're that sort of people I think: those that don't risk their life-savings in anything dodgy, but really believed that putting it in a bank was the safest thing to do. Now we've been proven to be inadequate fools, and people have taken advantage of our situation of being spread all around the globe with no representation; no vote; and no power to do anything other than appeal through the press.
Doing that of course brings the risk of others having a dig and a bash at us - and maybe we deserve to be labelled as foolish - but we didn't act maliciously towards others, nor take them to task for being inadequate in one part of their lives; we merely expected that those persons charged with looking after the finances of their country was to properly do the job they get so highly paid for and look after the interests of those who are not so clever in this department. They didn't do their job, they let us down and they let their country down, they all turned a blind eye until it was too late, now the unsophisticated expat depositors - working or retired - carry this huge loss."
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Monkey business on the Isle of Man
In a comment in response to a letter in the Manx Herald here International Publicity Inc said:
WARNING: MONKEY BUSINESS GOING ON - NEVER BANK ON THE ISLE OF MAN
Well here's a tale of monkey business that explains how the financial industry conspires to rip off you & me into believing that it is there for us.
Back in 2008 a man named Bond appeared in a jungle village & and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for £10 each.
The villagers rushed into the forest and started catching them. Bond bought thousands at £10 each, but as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts, feeling they had enough lolly. So as an incentive Bond announced that he would now pay £20 per monkey.
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and the villagers decided they had had enough of this hard work.
But Bond increased the reward to £25 each, so into the depths of the jungle they went until the supply of monkeys became so small that it was an effort find a single monkey, let alone catch it!
So now Bond announced that he would buy monkeys at £50! However, because he had to go to the City on business, he said that his assistant, Stock, would now buy on his behalf.
In the absence of Bond , Stock told the villagers: 'Look at this big cage - full of all the monkeys Bond has collected. I will sell them to you at £35 each, and when Bond returns from the City, you can sell them to him for £50 each.'
The villagers scraped together all their hard-earned, lifetime savings and bought all the monkeys.
They never saw Bond or Stock again - only monkeys everywhere...
The world's jungles are not just on the equator, they are wherever there is an offshore financial centre. They take good care of the megga rich (hiding their wealth in the likes of 'shell' accounts)but treat the rest of us like those villagers in this story.
The Isle of Man is an offshore financial centre that research has shown to be only 17% transparent in the way it does monkey business.
WARNING: MONKEY BUSINESS GOING ON - NEVER BANK ON THE ISLE OF MAN
Well here's a tale of monkey business that explains how the financial industry conspires to rip off you & me into believing that it is there for us.
Back in 2008 a man named Bond appeared in a jungle village & and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for £10 each.
The villagers rushed into the forest and started catching them. Bond bought thousands at £10 each, but as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts, feeling they had enough lolly. So as an incentive Bond announced that he would now pay £20 per monkey.
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and the villagers decided they had had enough of this hard work.
But Bond increased the reward to £25 each, so into the depths of the jungle they went until the supply of monkeys became so small that it was an effort find a single monkey, let alone catch it!
So now Bond announced that he would buy monkeys at £50! However, because he had to go to the City on business, he said that his assistant, Stock, would now buy on his behalf.
In the absence of Bond , Stock told the villagers: 'Look at this big cage - full of all the monkeys Bond has collected. I will sell them to you at £35 each, and when Bond returns from the City, you can sell them to him for £50 each.'
The villagers scraped together all their hard-earned, lifetime savings and bought all the monkeys.
They never saw Bond or Stock again - only monkeys everywhere...
The world's jungles are not just on the equator, they are wherever there is an offshore financial centre. They take good care of the megga rich (hiding their wealth in the likes of 'shell' accounts)but treat the rest of us like those villagers in this story.
The Isle of Man is an offshore financial centre that research has shown to be only 17% transparent in the way it does monkey business.
Friday, October 9, 2009
When did a judge ever give a verdict before hearing a case?
John Aspden, Chief of the IoM Financial Supervision Commission, spoke these smug words on Manx Radio yesterday: "lets be realistic the bank did not collapse because of any wrong doing at this end". Predictably he puts all the blame somewhere else other than the Isle of Man.
Mr.Aspden can be likened to a judge who gives a verdict before hearing the evidence in a case, except that judges would not dream of doing what Mr.Aspden does with such alacrity.
The Isle of Man government dared not allow this investigation to be conducted by an independent body because such a body would have wanted to view the facts objectively & openly, and would have reached a decision based on the evidence and not on the need to have a predetermined outcome as a political expedient to save the sinking reputation of the Isle of Man.
The overwhelming evidence about to be put to the Select Committee will make it clear that Mr. Aspden is deluding himself. In the light of that evidence it is going to have to do some clever mental gymnastics to make their findings fit Mr.Aspden's absurd claim.
Mr.Aspden can be likened to a judge who gives a verdict before hearing the evidence in a case, except that judges would not dream of doing what Mr.Aspden does with such alacrity.
The Isle of Man government dared not allow this investigation to be conducted by an independent body because such a body would have wanted to view the facts objectively & openly, and would have reached a decision based on the evidence and not on the need to have a predetermined outcome as a political expedient to save the sinking reputation of the Isle of Man.
The overwhelming evidence about to be put to the Select Committee will make it clear that Mr. Aspden is deluding himself. In the light of that evidence it is going to have to do some clever mental gymnastics to make their findings fit Mr.Aspden's absurd claim.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Pandora's Box has been well & truly opened on the Isle of Man
Tax Research org.uk has published here a comprehensive piece of research into 60 international financial jurisdictions which exposes them as secret tax havens. The Isle of Man is one of them.
The evidence [pdf file here] shows that: "the Isle of Man is a long way from offering financial transparency. If it is to play a full part in the modern financial community and wishes to impede and deter illicit financial flows, including flows originating from tax evasion, aggressive tax avoidance practices, corrupt practices and criminal activities it should take action on the points noted where it falls short of acceptable international standards"
All the government's propaganda efforts & waste of public money to hoodwink the world into believeing that it is transparent & squeaky clean has come to naught.
Pandora's Box has been well & truly opened on the Isle of Man - & there's more to come. Watch this space. In the meantime don't bank on the Isle of Man to be anything but economical with the truth when it claims that it is not a secrecy jurisdiciton.
The evidence [pdf file here] shows that: "the Isle of Man is a long way from offering financial transparency. If it is to play a full part in the modern financial community and wishes to impede and deter illicit financial flows, including flows originating from tax evasion, aggressive tax avoidance practices, corrupt practices and criminal activities it should take action on the points noted where it falls short of acceptable international standards"
All the government's propaganda efforts & waste of public money to hoodwink the world into believeing that it is transparent & squeaky clean has come to naught.
Pandora's Box has been well & truly opened on the Isle of Man - & there's more to come. Watch this space. In the meantime don't bank on the Isle of Man to be anything but economical with the truth when it claims that it is not a secrecy jurisdiciton.
Monday, October 5, 2009
When banks are morally bankrupt
In the blog 'Cynical Tendency' there is a post (read here) about how secret jurisdictions may try to use the law to silence those who seek to reveal the truth about the jiggery-pokery that goes on behind closed doors in the financial world.
We speculate like this because we suspect jiggery-pokery is at the heart of financial life in the dark recesses of the financial world, especially the offshore financial centres. From the hidden heart of these places springs forth the love of money that is the root of all evil.
Without whistleblowers the man in the street will never know the truth about what goes on right under his nose. But alas! a potential whistleblower only knows a small part of a large system that thrives & spreads like a pernicious cancer in the financial world.
The dark secrets of offshore financial mechanisms is closely guarded by a select few who ensure that no whistleblower could ever reveal anything of any consequence that would lead to a reform of this morally bankrupt business.
The evidence of corruption now surfacing in Iceland needs an army of forensic accountants to sort it out. Sadly they will only get so far in their investigations because they have no financial 'enigma machine' that will break the code necessary to reveal just how far the tentacles of corrupt practices spread throughout the financial web across the globe.
Only the godfathers of it all could reveal all, but they would have no reward for doing so as they have sold their soul to the devil to gain riches that will buy them anything that they would need - except, of course, a place in heaven.
Offshore financial centres can not survive without money. Starved of money they would not last long. Banks never tell prospective customers what they want to know in order that they are better able to make a judgement as to whether their money would be safe in their hands. Banks only tell potential depositors what the banks want them to know.
Dispossessed depositors of the failed Kaupthing IoM bank have mounted a video campaign on Youtube.com under the title: "DON'T BANK ON THE ISLE OF MAN" as itcould seriously ruin your wealth.
Let's hope that they might succeed at removing the need for any of us to have to speculate further about what evil deeds might be cooked up behind closed doors in a financial world that only cares about your money and not you.
We speculate like this because we suspect jiggery-pokery is at the heart of financial life in the dark recesses of the financial world, especially the offshore financial centres. From the hidden heart of these places springs forth the love of money that is the root of all evil.
Without whistleblowers the man in the street will never know the truth about what goes on right under his nose. But alas! a potential whistleblower only knows a small part of a large system that thrives & spreads like a pernicious cancer in the financial world.
The dark secrets of offshore financial mechanisms is closely guarded by a select few who ensure that no whistleblower could ever reveal anything of any consequence that would lead to a reform of this morally bankrupt business.
The evidence of corruption now surfacing in Iceland needs an army of forensic accountants to sort it out. Sadly they will only get so far in their investigations because they have no financial 'enigma machine' that will break the code necessary to reveal just how far the tentacles of corrupt practices spread throughout the financial web across the globe.
Only the godfathers of it all could reveal all, but they would have no reward for doing so as they have sold their soul to the devil to gain riches that will buy them anything that they would need - except, of course, a place in heaven.
Offshore financial centres can not survive without money. Starved of money they would not last long. Banks never tell prospective customers what they want to know in order that they are better able to make a judgement as to whether their money would be safe in their hands. Banks only tell potential depositors what the banks want them to know.
Dispossessed depositors of the failed Kaupthing IoM bank have mounted a video campaign on Youtube.com under the title: "DON'T BANK ON THE ISLE OF MAN" as itcould seriously ruin your wealth.
Let's hope that they might succeed at removing the need for any of us to have to speculate further about what evil deeds might be cooked up behind closed doors in a financial world that only cares about your money and not you.
Friday, October 2, 2009
PWC & KPMG under police investigation in Iceland
The Telegraph reports today (here) that Police have raided the offices of KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Reykjavik, seizing documents and computer data as part of an investigation into alleged criminal activity at three collapsed Icelandic banks.
These two companies are employed by the Isle of Man. PWC is involved as liquidator of KSFIoM and KPMG is involved in the management of the Depositors Compensation Scheme. They are 2 of the top 4 international auditing companies & their services do not come cheap as the dispossessed depositors have found out to their cost. To those who are the victims of the failed Kaupthing bank these two companies are despised more than traffic wardens & bent coppers.
Why should this be so? Because as the Chairman of KPMG UK says: "Our vision is simply stated to turn knowledge into value for the benefit of our clients.." It is the depositors who are having to pay the cost.
These companies operate in the world of money like vultures scavanging off the carcass of companies that have gone bust, and they do so at the expense of hapless customers who are owed money but end up being left with the bare bones.
No doubt PWC & KPMG operating on the IoM will cry: "we are squeaky clean." Kaupthing depositors sure hope that they are, though KPMG haven't exactly shown themselves to be competent in the way they have handled the DCS payments.
These two companies are employed by the Isle of Man. PWC is involved as liquidator of KSFIoM and KPMG is involved in the management of the Depositors Compensation Scheme. They are 2 of the top 4 international auditing companies & their services do not come cheap as the dispossessed depositors have found out to their cost. To those who are the victims of the failed Kaupthing bank these two companies are despised more than traffic wardens & bent coppers.
Why should this be so? Because as the Chairman of KPMG UK says: "Our vision is simply stated to turn knowledge into value for the benefit of our clients.." It is the depositors who are having to pay the cost.
These companies operate in the world of money like vultures scavanging off the carcass of companies that have gone bust, and they do so at the expense of hapless customers who are owed money but end up being left with the bare bones.
No doubt PWC & KPMG operating on the IoM will cry: "we are squeaky clean." Kaupthing depositors sure hope that they are, though KPMG haven't exactly shown themselves to be competent in the way they have handled the DCS payments.
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