Another secret banking location going under the lamp?
Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 3:43AM INTERNATIONAL FINANCE: "Singapore Stands Set to Defend Bank Secrecy, to a Point," by Costas Paris, Wall Street Journal, 8 May 2009.
Switzerland has decided to end a lot of its secret banking practices and now Singapore is similarly pressured by Western authorities.
Always interesting that almost all of these weird pockets of financial secrecy are either tiny states or island states--wee Gaps scattered across the Core or embedded in the Gap.
The EU is pressuring hard for Singapore's private banks to give up European names and--for now--Singapore is holding fairly tight. But the article argues that if America joins in, Singapore will likely crumble.
Why?
Our importance as a military ally.
So we watch Obama's attempt to shut down tax-haven loopholes in our system to see what additional pressure it imposes on such places.
Hong Kong, smarter on this subject, is already moving aggressively to avoid such confrontations with the EU and the US.
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