New Zealand has edged out Singapore to take top spot for ease of doing business in the World Bank’s latest rankings, but money-laundering experts warned the honor masked the darker side of the Pacific nation’s vulnerability as a channel for illegal funds.
In its annual Doing Business report released on Tuesday, the World Bank cited tax improvements as a key reason for moving New Zealand to top spot from its previous runner-up position.
The nation also topped the World Bank’s indicator on ease of company formation, a particularly worrisome aspect for anti-money laundering efforts and one that has raised some alarm bells given the use of shell companies to launder funds.
Companies registered in New Zealand were among a network of opaque firms that were used to dupe Chinese investors out of millions of US dollars in a pyramid scheme called “EuroFX” earlier this year.
New Zealand also came under fire this year when the Panama Papers showed the nation’s shell companies and trusts were touted as a secretive way to channel funds around the world, including for tax-avoidance purposes.
“You want a jurisdiction that has a clean reputation, but doesn’t ask many questions when you’re setting up a company there,” said Jason Sharman, an Australia-based money laundering expert and coauthor of the book Global Shell Games.
New Zealand Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce said the government is aware of the risks and is taking steps, such as bringing anti-money laundering regulations in line with international standards.
The New Zealand Ministry of Justice is also “looking into” the feasibility of a registry that shows the beneficial owners behind companies.
“It’s all about the management of risks and we’ve taken a number of steps,” Joyce said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Others said the risks are not being managed well enough.
“Anyone who wants to … hide dirty money, just needs a local director, a physical address and NZ$45, and in a few minutes they’ve got just what they need to do it with,” said Ron Pol, the Wellington-based head of anti-money laundering firm AML Assurance.
The World Bank report tracks regulatory changes in 190 nations for businesses throughout their life cycle — from the ease of business start-up regulations and getting credit to property rights.
It said a record 137 economies undertook reforms to make it easier to start and operate businesses in the past year, with more than 75 percent of the changes occurring in developing nations.
The World Bank says better performance in the Doing Business rankings generally equates to lower levels of income inequality and reduced poverty.
NXP Semiconductors NV expects its first automotive-grade 5-nanometer chip built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to become available for automakers within one-and-a-half years at the earliest, following demand for better computing performance and energy efficiency for connected vehicles, a company executive said yesterday. That would mean a significant upgrade from the 16-nanometer technology NXP adopted in its existing series of microprocessors. NXP chief technology executive Lars Reger made the remarks during a media briefing yesterday in Taipei. The latest updates came after NXP unveiled its plan to source 5-nanometer capacity from TSMC in 2021. This is Reger’s first trip to
CENTRAL BANK: The consumer price index would grow while core CPI is set to move forward at a milder rate, the governor said, adding that the GDP forecast is down The central bank yesterday kept its policy rate unchanged for the second straight quarter, saying that a rate pause would help support the economy, as consumer prices have moderated and would return to the 2 percent target next year. “The board gave unanimous support to a policy hold, although some members voiced concern over lingering inflationary pressures and called for close monitoring,” central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a media briefing after its quarterly board meeting. The consumer price index (CPI) would grow 1.83 percent next year, while core CPI after stripping out volatile items would advance a milder 1.73 percent,
SLUMP: The electronics, machinery and traditional industries posted the largest decline in the past year; overall, sectors showed gains over the previous month Taiwan’s industrial production index decreased 10.53 percent year-on-year to 91.38 last month, falling for a 15th consecutive month on an annual basis, as weak global economic growth continued to weigh on end-market demand and investment momentum, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Saturday. The industrial production index gauges output in Taiwan’s four main industries: manufacturing, electricity and gas supply, water supply, and mining and quarrying. Last month’s decline was the smallest contraction since March when the index dropped 16.03 percent from a year earlier. On a monthly basis, the index rose 7.28 percent, marking a second straight month of improvement,
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) largely omitted mention of its controversial Mate 60 smartphone series at a grand showcase of its new consumer products yesterday. The Shenzhen-based company would increase smartphone production in response to demand, said consumer division chief Richard Yu (余承東), without naming the handset triggering that surge. The Mate 60 Pro earned international notoriety with its advanced made-in-China processor last month, causing concern in Washington about Huawei’s progress toward developing in-house chipmaking capabilities despite US trade curbs. Huawei’s new phones have fired up the company’s sales and were among the top sellers in China in the week before Apple Inc’s
RSS