Category Archives: Finance

Human Trafficking Is One Of The Most Profitable Proceeds Generating Crime

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The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering is an intergovernmental organisation, consisting of 41 member jurisdictions, focused on ensuring that its members effectively implement the international standards against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing related to weapons of mass destruction.

In addition to its enormous human cost, human trafficking is estimated to be one of the most profitable proceeds generating crime in the world, with the International Labour Organisation estimating that forced labour generates USD 150.2 billion per year. While in the past, many aspects of the crime went ‘unseen’, there is now an increased understanding of the breadth and gravity of human trafficking, particularly with respect to domestic human trafficking and human trafficking for labour exploitation. Human trafficking is also one of the fastest growing forms of international crime. The increased displacement and vulnerability of people in, and around, conflict zones increases instances of human trafficking, including potential involvement by opportunistic terrorist organisations…. Human-Trafficking-2018

Rodrigo de Matos
www.w-t-w.org/en/rodrigo-de-matos/

A Financial-Technology Giant

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Jack Ma’s Giant Financial Startup
is Shaking the Chinese Banking System.

Ant Financial is transforming how Chinese run their daily finances, drawing flak from big banks and warning shots from the government.

Stella Yifan Xie reports: Ant Financial Services Group, founded by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, has become the world’s biggest financial-technology firm, driving innovations that let people use their phones for buying insurance as easily as groceries, enabling millions to go weeks at a time without using physical cash.

That success is also putting a target on the company’s back. China, even more than the U.S., is now under pressure to reckon with the disruptive power of a financial-technology giant.

It handled more payments last year than Mastercard, controls the world’s largest money-market fund and has made loans to tens of millions of people. Its online payments platform completed more than $8 trillion of transactions last year—the equivalent of more than twice Germany’s gross domestic product…..WSJ

Chinese Tech Billionare Jack Ma’s Ant Financial

 

G20 Finance Ministers at their meeting in Buenos Aires

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Paris, 24 July 2018 – G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at their meeting in Buenos Aires on 21-22 July, recognised the real and growing money laundering and terrorist financing risks from crypto-assets and the urgency of action to address these risks; they reiterated their determination to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, and they called on the FATF to take further action to counter proliferation financing.

The FATF President, Marshall Billingslea, briefed Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on these risks and the work FATF will be doing under the US Presidency. The G20 asked the FATF to clarify in October 2018 how its standards apply to crypto assets.

The communique highlights G20 countries’ individual and collective commitment to the full and effective implementation of the FATF Standards.

Under the US Presidency of the FATF, the FATF will prioritise work on combating the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, further strengthening efforts to combat the financing of terrorism and taking action to promote a more consistent and effective regulation of virtual currencies and other crypto assets.

The FATF recognises the urgent need to clarify how the FATF standards apply to virtual currency providers and related businesses, including for customer due diligence, fund transfers, supervision, and enforcement. The FATF will update the G20 on this in October 2018…FATF-Report-G20-FM-CBG-July-2018

Family photo of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, 21-22 July, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Careers of Women in Finance and Accounting

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The slow path to the top:

The research traces macro-movements in the career trajectories of men and women in finance and accounting. This includes identifying the dimensions of work that either enable or impede the advancement of their respective careers – finding that men and women follow distinct patterns of ascension within the sector.

Overall, women did not reach executive level until seven years after men. The implication of this was the generation of a two-tournament gender system for reaching executive level. Men enter a fast-track route reaching upper middle management well in advance of women and men whose careers had plateaued. Despite this divergence, the careers of women accelerated at a faster rate once they had reached executive level.

When it comes to the experiences of men and women advancing in their careers overtime in the sector, women tended to blame themselves and others for external organisational impediments to their career progression. This raises pertinent questions regarding the individualising thrust of prevalent organisational logics, and the role of equality and corporate social responsibility within this….accaglobal

Slow path to the top/Study

Business Women from G20 Member Countries

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The future of work high on the G20 finance agenda this week in Buenos Aires

Today and tomorrow, officials from member and guest countries are attending the Fourth Meeting of Finance and Central Bank Deputies, laying the groundwork for the finance ministerial meeting this weekend. Future- Work High G20-Finance Buenos Aires

Business Women Leaders Task Force official activities
The economic empowerment of women

Dieter Huthmacher
www.w-t-w.org/en/dieter-huthmacher

The Economics of Banking on Women

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This report Economics of Banking on Women is based on information gathered in the GBA’s Women’s Market Analytics Survey — the only collection of global banking data measuring the performance of financial institutions serving the Women’s Market, with 4 years of performance data and over 400 data points per institution. This second edition of the report bears out several trends that emerged in the previous edition, highlighting the strong business opportunity the Women’s Market represents.

GBA’s Global Women’s Market Survey
This survey includes data that is self-reported by GBA members, and although it has been
reviewed the data has not been fully verified. Data granularity varies from bank to bank and
in some analyses outliers have been excluded. Therefore, some of the results may include
smaller sample sizes and represent still emerging trends that we will continue to analyze
through the annual compilation of this data. All currency referenced is in US dollars.

See also: Investing in gender equality and women’s economic empowerment
Gender equality is one of the founding values of the European Union.
Projects/Initiatives/Gender

The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi)

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We-Fi is a collaborative partnership among 14 governments, eight multilateral development banks (MDBs), and other public and private sector stakeholders, hosted by the World Bank Group. It seeks to address financial and non-financial constraints faced by women-owned/led small and medium enterprises in developing countries.

The founding financial contributors are: Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Republic of Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. These 14 governments have committed over $340 million to launch the facility’s activities.

We-Fi finances projects, programs, and activities that are aligned with its objectives and principles. Project implementation is led by Implementing Partners that are screened and accredited by the We-Fi Governing Committee. Under the first call for proposals, the following MDBs were eligible to apply as Implementing Partners: African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, IDB Invest, International Finance Corporation, Islamic Development Bank Group, and World Bank (the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Development Association). MDBs are encouraged to partner with UN agencies, international financial institutions, civil society organizations, business groups, and/or other entities currently working in this field to help implement activities…..we-fi.org/
call-for-proposals-women-entrepreneurs-financ-e-initiative
women-entrepreneurs-finance-initiative-we-fi

WOMEN AND DRUGS

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Drug use, drug supply and their consequences.
Cocaine and opium production worldwide hit ‘absolute record highs’ – major threat to public health says UN study. The scourge of opium-based drugs and cocaine are a bigger global threat to public health and law enforcement than ever before, according to the latest World Drug Report, released on Tuesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
 

Booklet 5 focuses on the specific issues related to drug use among women, including the social and health consequences of drug use and access to treatment by women with drug use disorders; it also discusses the role played by women in the drug supply chain.

Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption

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The Panama Papers
Millions of documents show heads of state, criminals and celebrities using secret hideaways in tax havens.

A massive leak of documents exposes the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and reveals how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies.

The leak also provides details of the hidden financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials around the world.

The cache of 11.5 million records shows how a global industry of law firms and big banks sells financial secrecy to politicians, fraudsters and drug traffickers as well as billionaires, celebrities and sports stars.

These are among the findings of a yearlong investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other news organizations….. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Clarity on Financial Crime in Banking

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Not only Switzerland as an international financial center is exposed to huge risks from financial crime. This is increased by outdated transaction monitoring systems, inadequate approaches to Know Your Customer and poorly determined risk appetites…..
Clarity on Financial Crime in Banking/KPMG

The impacts of financial crime on Switzerland’s banks
Financial crime has very real, significant implications for Swiss banks. The impacts are clearly visible when looking at key statistics around notifications and offences.
Clarity on-Financial Crime in Banking/STUDY

 Women Networks Fight Against Corruption and MoneyLaundering