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.
In Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan, two rival warlords – both allegedly with ties to the Taliban – are competing to control the illegal mining and smuggling of the valuable lapis lazuli mineral.
Read MoreUnited States Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew chaired an unprecedented session of the United Nations Security Council on December 17. For the first time, it was finance ministers - not diplomats or ministers of foreign affairs - using the Security Council to drive international policy. Their target was terrorism, specifically the Islamic state (sometimes called ISIL, or ISIS, or Daesh).
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.
Read MoreIt takes two to tango to rob national treasuries and undermine global commerce: the government officials and politicians who take the bribes and, of course, the corporations who pay the bribes.
Read MoreA new global survey of corruption published by Transparency International (TI) shows an all-too-familiar picture of deep and far-reaching abuse of government positions by politicians and officials for their personal gain. More than two-thirds of the 175 countries covered by the survey show very high levels of corruption.
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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.
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Finance Ministers of the Group of 20 leading global economies agreed to take measures against tax avoidance by giant global corporations at their meeting in Australia on September 20. This now needs to be seen by the G20 as a stepping stone towards far tougher and meaningful actions against illegal tax evaders, corrupt corporations and financial institutions that launder money for corrupt officials, politicians, criminal organizations and businesses.
The American Petroleum Institute (API), the powerhouse lobbying group for the oil industry, is pushing hard for actions that are not only explicitly against the interests of investors, but that bolster corrupt regimes in many foreign countries, such as in Nigeria and Angola and Venezuela.
Read MoreAnti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) have been established in increasing numbers of countries in recent years and have complemented the efforts by public prosecutors and the judiciary to curb corruption in their countries. Are they making a difference?
Read MoreWhen countries are in acute difficulties and turn to the United States for support, then they do not expect to be publicly rebuked for corruption. Now, Vice President Joe Biden on a visit to Ukraine has done just this and it may signify a change in U.S. foreign policy approaches to dealing with kleptocratic regimes.
Read MoreDespite all the swagger of Russia's Putin and the pro-Russian sentiments of many citizens of Ukraine living in Crimea, the people of Ukraine remain angry about the staggering sums of cash allegedly stolen from them by the country's former government leaders and their cronies.
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 globe the call -- "End Corruption" -- is ringing loud. In the bitter cold of Ukraine's capital, Kiev, tens of thousands of citizens are demonstrating against the government of president Viktor Yanukovych. The protesters declared: "Out with the bandits!"
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 MoreShining a bright light on the global operations of major multinational corporations, including details of the cash they pay to foreign governments, will not end corruption. But, it is a very good start on a long and vital journey.
Read MoreHistorians will look back to chaotic financial events in late March/early April 2013 on the tiny island of Cyprus as the start of a new and more dangerous phase in Europe’s crisis. Now, after years of mounting debt and economic problems from Portugal and Spain to Greece and Italy, Europe is entering what may be an era of rising challenges to its democratic institutions.
Read MoreThe Greek government, under international pressure to attack rampant domestic corruption, acted on Monday by hauling an investigative journalist into court. Costas Vaxevanis faces trial for having published the names of 2,059 Greeks who have accounts at the HSBC bank in Switzerland.
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