Financial Secrecy Index

The Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) is a qualitative scoring of financial secrecy indicators, weighted by the economic flows of each country.[lower-alpha 1]

The Tax Justice Network created the Financial Secrecy Index in 2009, and upgrade the FSI biennially

Confusion

While related to tax havens, the FSI is not a list of tax havens per se, and it does not attempt to estimate actual taxes avoided or profits shifted, unlike the techniques used in compilation of modern tax haven lists. The FSI is therefore more correctly a list of financial secrecy jurisdictions. While having many similarities to tax havens, the FSI produces some results that are very different from established tax haven lists.[1][2]

The FSI showed jurisdictions like the U.S. and Germany, despite high tax rates, are large contributors to global financial secrecy,[3] however, this is often misinterpreted as implying that the US and Germany are "tax havens"; for example, foreign corporates do not move to the U.S. or Germany to avoid tax.[4][5][6] The FSI does not capture modern corporate tax havens, such as Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, who maintain high levels of OECD–compliance and transparency, but are responsible for the global largest base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) tax avoidance activity.[7]

For example, Apple's Irish "leprechaun economics" tax restructure in Q1 2015, the largest BEPS transaction in history, remained unknown for years due to Irish data-protection laws. The issue is the scoring by the FSI for some of the most favoured secrecy tools of modern tax havens (or Conduit OFCs): the unlimited liability company ("ULC"), trusts, and certain SPV structures (e.g. Irish QIAIFs), none of which file public accounts in havens like Ireland and the United Kingdom.[8][9] The FSI focuses on ownership of these tools (e.g. is the owner of a ULC recorded), versus visibility into the tools (e.g. is the ULC paying tax). An example of this disconnect, was the EU's €13 billion tax fine on Apple's two Irish ULCs in 2016,[lower-alpha 2] who while known, were found by the EU to be avoiding large amounts of Irish tax during the 2004–2014 period.

History

The Financial Secrecy Index started with 60 jurisdictions in 2009, but the latest 2018 FSI now extends to 112 jurisdictions. As well as a ranking table outlining Secrecy Indicators, Global Scale Weights, and FSI Values, the TJN also produces a separate secrecy report on each individual jurisdiction, providing further comment and analysis.[10] The biennial FSI releases are widely reported in the general[11][12] and financial media,[13][14] and FSI scores now are seen in EU reports.[15] FSI scores are used as one indicator of the quality of AML/CFT systems in the Basel AML Index, a money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment tool developed by the Basel Institute on Governance.

The 2018 FSI results were released on the Financial Secrecy Index portal,[16] and they update the 2015 FSI results.[17]

Financial Secrecy Index, 2020

One hundred and thirty-three countries and territories were included in the 2020 Financial Secrecy Index.[18]

Rank Jurisdiction FSI - Value6 FSI Share7 Secrecy Score4 Global Scale Weight5
1 Cayman Islands[note 1] 1,575.19 4.63% 76 4.58%
2 United States[note 1] 1,486.96 4.37% 63 21.37%
3 Switzerland[note 1] 1,402.10 4.12% 74 4.12%
4 Hong Kong[note 1] 1,035.29 3.04% 66 4.44%
5 Singapore[note 1] 1,022.12 3.00% 65 5.17%
6 Luxembourg[note 1] 849.36 2.49% 55 12.36%
7 Japan 695.59 2.04% 63 2.20%
8 Netherlands[note 1] 682.20 2.00% 67 1.11%
9 British Virgin Islands[note 1] 619.14 1.82% 71 0.50%
10 United Arab Emirates[note 1] 605.20 1.78% 78 0.21%
11 Guernsey[note 1] 564.56 1.66% 71 0.41%
12 United Kingdom[note 1] 534.65 1.57% 46 15.94%
13 Taiwan[note 1] 507.57 1.49% 66 0.59%
14 Germany[note 1] 499.72 1.47% 52 4.71%
15 Panama[note 1] 479.51 1.41% 72 0.22%
16 Jersey[note 1] 466.81 1.37% 66 0.46%
17 Thailand 448.86 1.32% 73 0.15%
18 Malta 442.20 1.30% 62 0.66%
19 Canada[note 1] 438.38 1.29% 56 1.60%
20 Qatar 433.05 1.27% 77 0.09%
21 South Korea 411.06 1.21% 62 0.55%
22 Bahamas 407.28 1.20% 75 0.09%
23 Algeria 400.56 1.18% 80 0.05%
24 Kenya[note 1] 398.19 1.17% 76 0.08%
25 China 397.25 1.17% 60 0.64%
26 Lebanon[note 1] 385.52 1.13% 64 0.32%
27 Cyprus[note 1] 383.38 1.13% 61 0.48%
28 Kuwait 369.17 1.08% 71 0.12%
29 Ireland[note 1] 363.80 1.07% 48 3.46%
30 Gibraltar 359.89 1.06% 69 0.12%
31 Macao 356.53 1.05% 65 0.22%
32 Malaysia 352.69 1.04% 70 0.12%
33 France 350.53 1.03% 50 2.25%
34 Nigeria 348.53 1.02% 70 0.10%
35 Angola 345.45 1.01% 80 0.03%
36 Austria 317.00 0.93% 56 0.54%
37 Vietnam 299.30 0.88% 74 0.04%
38 Israel 291.49 0.86% 59 0.30%
39 Sri Lanka 290.64 0.85% 72 0.05%
40 Bermuda 289.07 0.85% 73 0.04%
41 Italy 287.80 0.85% 50 1.14%
42 Jordan 260.39 0.76% 78 0.02%
43 Isle of Man 258.34 0.76% 65 0.09%
44 Russia 256.35 0.75% 57 0.26%
45 Saudi Arabia 245.47 0.72% 67 0.06%
46 Egypt 241.93 0.71% 71 0.03%
47 India2 238.68 0.70% 48 1.04%
48 Australia 238.07 0.70% 50 0.68%
49 Marshall Islands 236.43 0.69% 70 0.03%
50 Belgium 236.21 0.69% 45 1.72%
51 Mauritius 235.82 0.69% 72 0.03%
52 Liechtenstein 229.68 0.67% 75 0.02%
53 Cameroon 229.23 0.67% 71 0.02%
54 Bangladesh 228.79 0.67% 73 0.02%
55 Turkey 225.72 0.66% 60 0.12%
56 Romania 224.13 0.66% 63 0.08%
57 New Zealand 219.00 0.64% 59 0.12%
58 South Africa 218.59 0.64% 56 0.19%
59 Poland 212.10 0.62% 56 0.19%
60 Philippines 201.18 0.59% 63 0.05%
61 Venezuela 197.00 0.58% 69 0.02%
62 Anguilla 192.99 0.57% 78 0.01%
63 Barbados 192.86 0.57% 74 0.01%
64 Sweden 182.86 0.54% 46 0.71%
65 Latvia 182.83 0.54% 59 0.07%
66 Spain 164.30 0.48% 44 0.72%
67 Czechia 163.30 0.48% 55 0.09%
68 St. Kitts and Nevis 162.25 0.48% 75 0.01%
69 Guatemala 162.15 0.48% 74 0.01%
70 Ukraine 160.45 0.47% 65 0.02%
71 Norway 157.88 0.46% 44 0.60%
72 Morocco 157.49 0.46% 68 0.01%
73 Brazil 157.21 0.46% 52 0.15%
74 Maldives 155.39 0.46% 80 0.00%
75 Hungary 151.52 0.44% 54 0.09%
76 Portugal 151.18 0.44% 54 0.09%
77 Puerto Rico 150.53 0.44% 73 0.01%
78 Tunisia 147.48 0.43% 66 0.01%
79 Indonesia 143.84 0.42% 51 0.13%
80 Mexico 139.81 0.41% 53 0.09%
81 Bahrain 137.99 0.41% 62 0.02%
82 Chile 135.12 0.40% 56 0.05%
83 Costa Rica 132.24 0.39% 62 0.02%
84 Iceland 129.31 0.38% 57 0.03%
85 El Salvador 123.12 0.36% 64 0.01%
86 Samoa 120.86 0.35% 75 0.00%
87 Finland 119.34 0.35% 52 0.06%
88 Paraguay 117.59 0.35% 77 0.00%
89 US Virgin Islands 117.03 0.34% 74 0.00%
90 Uruguay 115.47 0.34% 57 0.02%
91 Bolivia 114.74 0.34% 79 0.00%
92 Turks and Caicos Islands 114.32 0.34% 78 0.00%
93 Croatia 112.33 0.33% 55 0.03%
94 Argentina 109.37 0.32% 55 0.03%
95 Seychelles 108.53 0.32% 70 0.00%
96 Curaçao 103.60 0.30% 75 0.00%
97 Denmark 103.52 0.30% 45 0.14%
98 Tanzania 100.62 0.30% 71 0.00%
99 Rwanda 100.47 0.30% 63 0.01%
100 Pakistan 97.92 0.29% 55 0.02%
101 Peru 96.18 0.28% 57 0.01%
102 Colombia 92.25 0.27% 56 0.01%
103 Greece 91.65 0.27% 51 0.03%
104 Slovakia 91.29 0.27% 51 0.03%
105 Lithuania 89.83 0.26% 50 0.04%
106 Vanuatu2 88.59 0.26% 76 0.00%
107 Dominican Republic 86.68 0.25% 59 0.01%
108 Kazakhstan 82.30 0.24% 64 0.00%
109 Monaco 79.90 0.23% 70 0.00%
110 Belize 78.07 0.23% 74 0.00%
111 Liberia 77.59 0.23% 78 0.00%
112 Aruba 76.65 0.23% 73 0.00%
113 Botswana 58.37 0.17% 62 0.00%
114 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 57.72 0.17% 66 0.00%
115 Bulgaria 57.53 0.17% 49 0.01%
116 North Macedonia 54.86 0.16% 64 0.00%
117 Ghana2 54.47 0.16% 52 0.01%
118 Dominica 53.75 0.16% 74 0.00%
119 Montenegro 53.65 0.16% 60 0.00%
120 Ecuador 50.66 0.15% 47 0.01%
121 Estonia 46.03 0.14% 43 0.02%
122 Antigua and Barbuda 39.05 0.11% 76 0.00%
123 Andorra 38.84 0.11% 58 0.00%
124 Gambia 37.72 0.11% 75 0.00%
125 Brunei 34.62 0.10% 78 0.00%
126 Grenada 34.56 0.10% 71 0.00%
127 Trinidad and Tobago 29.63 0.09% 65 0.00%
128 Slovenia 27.48 0.08% 38 0.01%
129 San Marino 20.82 0.06% 60 0.00%
130 Montserrat 15.43 0.05% 75 0.00%
131 Nauru 13.79 0.04% 60 0.00%
132 St. Lucia 12.25 0.04% 71 0.00%
133 Cook Islands 12.09 0.04% 70 0.00%
Notes
  1. The FSI Value is calculated by multiplying the cube of the Secrecy Score with the cube root of the Global Scale Weight. The final result is divided through by one hundred for presentational clarity.

Financial Secrecy Index, 2018

One hundred and twelve countries and territories were included in the 2018 Financial Secrecy Index.[16]

RankCountry or territoryFSI ValueFSI ShareSecrecy ScoreGlobal Scale Weight
1  Switzerland1,589.575.01%764.50%
2 United States1,298.474.09%6022.30%
3 Cayman Islands1,267.684.00%723.79%
4 Hong Kong1,243.683.92%714.17%
5 Singapore1,081.983.41%674.58%
6 Luxembourg975.923.08%5812.13%
7 Germany768.952.42%595.17%
8 Taiwan743.382.34%760.50%
9 United Arab Emirates661.152.08%840.14%
10 Guernsey658.922.08%720.52%
11 Lebanon644.412.03%720.51%
12 Panama625.841.97%770.27%
13 Japan623.921.97%612.24%
14 Netherlands598.811.89%660.90%
15 Thailand550.601.74%800.13%
16 British Virgin Islands502.761.59%690.38%
17 Bahrain490.711.55%780.11%
18 Jersey438.221.38%650.38%
19 Bahamas429.001.35%850.04%
20 Malta426.311.34%610.71%
21 Canada425.841.34%551.75%
22 Macao424.921.34%680.24%
23 United Kingdom423.761.34%4217.37%
24 Cyprus404.441.28%610.55%
25 France404.181.27%522.52%
26 Ireland387.941.22%512.66%
27 Kenya378.351.19%800.04%
28 China372.581.17%600.51%
29 Russia361.161.14%640.26%
30 Turkey353.891.12%680.14%
31 Malaysia335.111.06%720.07%
32 India316.621.00%521.16%
33 South Korea314.060.99%590.36%
34 Israel313.550.99%630.19%
35 Austria310.410.98%560.56%
36 Bermuda281.830.89%730.04%
37 Saudi Arabia278.580.88%700.05%
38 Liberia277.290.87%800.02%
39 Marshall Islands275.290.87%730.04%
40 Philippines269.810.85%650.09%
41 Italy254.140.80%490.92%
42 Isle of Man248.680.78%640.09%
43 Ukraine246.250.78%690.04%
44 Australia244.360.77%510.61%
45 Norway242.850.77%520.55%
46 Liechtenstein240.860.76%780.01%
47 Romania232.300.73%660.06%
48 Barbados230.950.73%740.02%
49 Mauritius223.470.70%720.02%
50 South Africa216.440.68%560.18%
51 Poland215.400.68%570.15%
52 Spain213.890.67%480.77%
53 Belgium212.970.67%441.56%
54 Sweden203.550.64%451.01%
55 Latvia195.650.62%570.11%
56 Anguilla195.040.62%780.01%
57 Indonesia188.790.60%610.05%
58 New Zealand178.560.56%560.10%
59 Costa Rica168.780.53%690.01%
60 Chile168.640.53%620.04%
61 Denmark166.120.52%530.15%
62 Paraguay158.520.50%840.00%
63 St. Kitts and Nevis152.550.48%770.00%
64 Portugal151.630.48%550.08%
65 Puerto Rico151.060.48%770.00%
66 Vanuatu149.270.47%890.00%
67 Uruguay148.200.47%610.03%
68 Aruba148.050.47%760.00%
69 Dominican Republic147.090.46%720.01%
70 Czech Republic145.100.46%530.09%
71 Finland142.230.45%530.09%
72 Iceland139.690.44%600.03%
73 Brazil138.000.44%490.16%
74 Hungary132.730.42%550.05%
75 Tanzania128.920.41%730.00%
76 Slovak Republic127.890.40%550.05%
77 Seychelles125.260.40%750.00%
78 Guatemala123.630.39%730.00%
79 Croatia119.360.38%590.02%
80 Greece118.580.37%580.02%
81 Samoa115.900.37%780.00%
82 Mexico107.570.34%540.03%
83 Gibraltar107.440.34%710.00%
84 Curacao105.660.33%750.00%
85 Venezuela105.030.33%690.00%
86 US Virgin Islands101.890.32%730.00%
87 Turks and Caicos Islands98.080.31%770.00%
88 Bolivia94.820.30%800.00%
89 Bulgaria91.380.29%540.02%
90 Belize86.300.27%750.00%
91 Brunei85.600.27%840.00%
92 Monaco82.930.26%780.00%
93 Estonia79.470.25%510.02%
94 Maldives74.870.24%810.00%
95 Ghana68.850.22%620.00%
96 Dominica62.020.20%770.00%
97 Lithuania58.750.19%470.02%
98 Antigua and Barbuda54.530.17%870.00%
99 Montenegro52.640.17%630.00%
100 Cook Islands44.970.14%750.00%
101 Grenada44.610.14%770.00%
102 Macedonia39.760.13%610.00%
103 Botswana39.450.12%690.00%
104 Slovenia35.320.11%420.01%
105 Andorra35.050.11%660.00%
106 Gambia34.510.11%770.00%
107 Trinidad and Tobago27.860.09%650.00%
108 Nauru26.320.08%670.00%
109 San Marino24.310.08%640.00%
110 St. Lucia21.520.07%780.00%
111 St. Vincent and the Grenadines21.380.07%700.00%
112 Montserrat16.530.05%780.00%
  Independent countries (plus one associated state) under the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Dominica abandoned the JCPC in March 2015

Methodology

The process starts with the collation of a large database of 20 qualitative factors that look at "Secrecy Indicators" (SI), which are a jurisdiction's ownership registration, legal entity transparency, tax and financial regulation and international co-operation and treaties, to assess how secretive it is. The higher the SI score, the more secretive the jurisdiction to financial activities.[19] The highest 2018 SI score was 89 for Vanuatu, and the joint lowest was 42 for the United Kingdom and Slovenia. To understand the scale of the contribution of jurisdictions, these SI scores are adjusted by a "Global Scale Weight" (GSW), which is quantitatively estimated from IMF Balance of Payments data, to get the "FSI Value". In this way, jurisdictions with very high SI scores but small financial flows (i.e. Vanuatu), can be compared with jurisdictions with lower SI scores but bigger financial flows (i.e. Luxembourg).[20] The largest global financial centres as well a major conduit ofcs feature high on this list.

Since Financial Secrecy Index has been created on purpose to measure contribution of jurisdictions to the global problem of financial secrecy, the FSI value represents the secrecy score for each jurisdiction weighed by the size of each jurisdiction's share of the global market for financial services provided to non-resident clients:

where is Global Scale Weight of jurisdiction and is Secrecy Score of jurisdiction.[21]

Secrecy Indicator Scores

Secrecy Scores are based on Key Financial Secrecy Indicators, which measure secrecy in different dimensions, such as ownership registration, legal entity transparency, integrity of tax and financial regulation and international standards and cooperation. Secrecy Score for each jurisdiction is obtained by taking the arithmetic average of the 20 Key Financial Secrecy Indicators:[21]

Dimension of secrecyKey Financial Secrecy IndicatorWhat is measured
Ownership RegistrationBanking secrecyExistence and availability of relevant banking information (including the maintenance of records on transactions for at least 5 years), the possibility of imprisonment or custodial sentencing for breaching banking secrecy.
Trusts and Foundations RegisterCompleteness and availability of information on all trusts and private foundations (including information on the true beneficial ownership).
Recorded Company OwnershipСompleteness and relevance of information regarding both legal and beneficial ownership.
Other Wealth ownershipOwnership transparency of real estate and of valuable assets (art, precious stones, antiquities, cash, gold bars, wines and classic cars) stored in freeports.
Limited Partnership TransparencyCompleteness and availability of information regarding legal and beneficial ownership and annual accounts of limited partnerships.
Legal Entity TransparencyPublic Company OwnershipCompleteness and availability of information on legal and beneficial ownership for all available types of companies with limited liability.
Public Company AccountsAccessibility of annual accounts of all available types of companies with limited liability.
Country by Country ReportingCompleteness of financial information on global action on a country-by-country basis published by the companies listed on the stock exchanges or incorporated in a given jurisdiction.
Corporate Tax DisclosureRequirements for filling CbC reports by multinational corporations (including those whose head office is not in the given jurisdiction) and accessibility of all unilateral cross-border tax rulings.
Legal Entity IdentifierRequirements for usage and updating Legal Entity Identifier.
Integrity of tax and financial regulationTax Administration CapacityCapacity of jurisdiction to collect and process data for investigating and ultimately taxing large taxpayers and high-net-worth individual.
Consistent Personal Income TaxComplexity of Personal Income Tax regime and rules on citizenship/residency acquisition.
Avoids Promoting Tax EvasionWhether a jurisdiction includes worldwide capital income in its income tax base and if it grants unilateral tax credits for foreign tax paid on certain foreign capital income.
Tax Court SecrecyOpenness of a jurisdiction's judicial system in civil and criminal tax proceedings.
Harmful StructuresAvailability of large banknotes (of value greater than 200 EUR/GBP/USD), unregistered bearer shares, series LLCs or protected cell companies(PCC) and trusts with flee clauses.
Public StatisticsAvailability of relevant statistical datasets about jurisdiction's international financial, trade, investment, and tax position.
International Standards and CooperationAnti-Money LaunderingExtent of compliance with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force.
Automatic Information ExchangeWhether jurisdictions have signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement and engage in a pilot project to assist developing countries.
Bilateral TreatiesLevel of jurisdiction's participation into efficient information exchange relationships conforming to the 'upon request' standard developed by the OECD and the Global Forum.
International Legal CooperationExtent to which a jurisdiction participates in international transparency commitments and engages in international judicial cooperation on money laundering and other criminal matters.

Global Scale Weights

Global Scale Weights represent the relative importance of each jurisdiction regarding its share of offshore financial services activity in the global total and measure a potential for each jurisdiction to contribute to the global problem of financial secrecy. GSW is defined as a proportion of the export value of financial services of each jurisdiction represented in FSI in the aggregated export value of financial services in 231 jurisdictions where export values were established.

For the 154 jurisdictions(including the 85 represented in FSI), data on exports of financial services provided by IMF's Balance of Payments Statistics has been used. For the remaining 77 jurisdictions(including the 27 represented in FSI), the export value of financial services has been received by extrapolating from data on stocks of internationally held financial assets.[21]

See also

Notes

  1. Because of the weighting of the financial secrecy indicators, the FSI is often mislabeled as a quantitative index; however it is a qualitative index
  2. Apple Sales International ("ASI"), and Apple Operations Europe ("AOE")

References

  1. "Leading economies blamed for fiscal secrecy by Tax Justice Network". Financial Times. 30 October 2009.
  2. "Lifting the Veil - An index of financial secrecy". The Economist. 6 November 2013.
  3. "U.S.The mega-haven". The Economist. 5 November 2015.
  4. Jesse Drucker (27 January 2016). "The World's Favorite New Tax Haven Is the United States". Bloomberg.com.
  5. Wood, Robert W. (27 January 2016). "The World's Next Top Tax Haven Is...America". Forbes. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  6. Swanson, Ana (5 April 2016). "How the U.S. became one of the world's biggest tax havens". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  7. "Ireland is the world's biggest corporate 'tax haven', say academics". The Irish Times. 13 June 2018. New Gabriel Zucman study claims State shelters more multinational profits than the entire Caribbean
  8. "New report: is Apple paying less than 1% tax in the EU?". Tax Justice Network. 28 June 2018. The use of private "unlimited liability company" (ULC) status, which exempts companies from filing financial reports publicly. The fact that Apple, Google and many others continue to keep their Irish financial information secret is due to a failure by the Irish government to implement the 2013 EU Accounting Directive, which would require full public financial statements, until 2017, and even then retaining an exemption from financial reporting for certain holding companies until 2022
  9. "Ireland's playing games in the last chance saloon of tax justice". Richard Murphy. 4 July 2018. Local subsidiaries of multinationals must always be required to file their accounts on public record, which is not the case at present. Ireland is not just a tax haven at present, it is also a corporate secrecy jurisdiction.
  10. "FSI Team". Tax Justice Network. 2018.
  11. Pegg, David (30 January 2018). "UN urged to launch global effort to end offshore tax evasion". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  12. "Australia a safe haven for illicit funds, but Switzerland the world's worst". Sydney Morning Hearld. 31 January 2018.
  13. "Report Says U.S. Is World's Second-Biggest Tax Haven". Bloomberg News. 30 January 2018.
  14. "U.S. Becomes World's Second-Biggest Tax Haven". The Wall Street Journal. 30 January 2018.
  15. "Offshore activities and money laundering: recent findings and challenges" (PDF). EU Parliament. March 2017. p. 41.
  16. "Financial Secrecy Index - 2018 Results". Tax Justice Network. January 2018.
  17. "Financial Secrecy Index - 2015 Results". Tax Justice Network. 2 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  18. "View 2020 results". fsi.taxjustice.net. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  19. "Secrecy Indicators". Tax Justice Network. 2018.
  20. "Global Scale Weight". Tax Justice Network. 2018.
  21. "Financial Secrecy Index 2018 Methodology" (PDF). Tax Justice Network. January 2018.
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