Financial Secrecy Index: Switzerland ranks No. 1

Financial Secrecy Index to show which countries are doing the most harm. The result is a completely different list than the Basel Anti–Money Laundering Index (BAMLI) or Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), and Switzerland takes top billing.

To build their index the researchers first calculated each jurisdiction’s secrecy score according to four criteria: knowledge of beneficial ownership, regulatory efficiency, corporate transparency, and compliance with international standards. The last two are self-explanatory, and the first is important because if beneficial ownership is defined too loosely it’s easy to set up shell companies to pass money through. Regulatory efficiency is important because the researchers have found that financial secrecy is sometimes hidden behind a combination of cumbersome rules and a pronounced lack of monitoring that tacitly encourage non-compliance.