Anti-Corruption • Ethics & Integrity
Frank has been engaged with global economics, banking, governance and anti-corruption for more than 40 years, as a journalist, as a World Bank senior official, as an anti-corruption civil society leader, and as a top level advisor to financial institutions. Frank is President of Vogl Communications, Inc., which has provided advice to leaders of international finance for more than two decades.
From the comparatively modest malfeasance in the New York State legislature (both the State assembly Speaker as well as the Senate majority leader have been indicted for corruption) to the mega-million dollar graft engulfing Brazilian businessmen and politicians today, on to the all-consuming kleptocracy in the Kremlin, the abuse of public office for private gain is rampant.
Read MoreMultiple major corruption crises are splashing across the front pages of newspapers across the globe. Taken together, these crises are contributing to global insecurity and to financial and economic instability, while they are challenging freedom and democracy in many countries.
The individual cases of grand corruption involving political leaders are reported case by case. The dangerous mega-impact, however, is only really evident by looking at the crises in combination.
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On the eve of the Group of 20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia, a group of the world’s biggest banks have agreed to pay $4.2 billion in fines to U.K., U.S. and Swiss authorities to settle charges that they fixed international currency markets over many years.
Read MoreWall Street's trumpets blasted in full force from the top of America's largest bank today to declare: all we care about is making money, even if that means breaking the law at times.
Read MoreAcross the world people have been asking why none of America’s top bankers went to jail for the crimes that caused the 2008 financial crisis. A leading New York judge now provides disturbing answers and underscores that none of the key bankers who caused the crisis will ever be criminally prosecuted.
Read MoreCorporations engaged in international business are facing formidable anti-corruption challenges. U.S. and other Western companies face the dual pressures of looming ever larger on the screens of official and media investigators, while on the other hand they find that winning big foreign deals is increasingly more difficult because of the rise of unscrupulous competitors.
Read MoreChina’s President Xi Jinping has announced a full-scale attack on corruption, stressing that he will crack down on both "tigers" and "flies"–powerful leaders and lowly bureaucrats in the government. He is the first leader of China to so publicly condemn corruption and to acknowledge that it is a rising threat to governmental cohesion and economic prosperity.
Read MoreRaging debates about whether or not the CEO and Chairman roles at J.P. Morgan Chase should be divided have centered on the skills and personality of Jamie Dimon who currently holds both positions. Shareholders of J.P. Morgan Chase will vote on this issue at their annual meeting on May 21, 2013. They should not focus on the particular skills of Dimon, but rather on core issues of good governance.
Read More....the breakdown of the rule of law in a country where corruption is widespread has led to the deaths of hundreds of people: civil society needs to lead actions to force changes by government and business alike...
Read MoreDespite heavy lobbying by some of the United States’ most powerful corporations, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken a bold decision in support of transparency. The US Chamber of Commerce claimed that to force US oil, gas and mining companies to reveal details of their foreign payments to natural resources’ host governments would cost a whopping US$16 billion.
Read MoreReducing corruption is a top priority for Americans as they look at the upcoming elections. Yet the candidates are not discussing the issue. Will the reporters posing questions in the presidential debates raise the topic? I doubt it.
Read MoreStandard Chartered Bank, headquartered in the UK, has agreed to settle charges by New York’s banking regulators that it engaged in as much as $250 billion of illicit banking transactions on behalf of Iran in recent years. The bank is paying $340 million to end this legal fracas, but this is not the end of its troubles, just the beginning.
Read MoreAt least 15 of the world’s biggest banks are being investigated by national authorities on both sides of the Atlantic for rigging interest rates, which possibly involved trillions of dollars of transactions, from the mortgages of you and me, to what big corporations have had to pay. So far, only Barclays Bank has been forced to settle – it was fined over $400 million and its chief executive and board chairman were forced to resign.
Read MoreThe UK is in the midst of an avalanche of corruption, yet as if by magic, it will not place the multiple scandals on hold and distract itself with a feast of Olympic sport. The festivities may indeed bring joy to the public at large, although an abundance of press reports suggest Londoners are grumpy about everything from the rain to the traffic to the sheer cost of the games.
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