bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Commercial Banking Structure, Regulation, and Performance: An International Comparison
Authors: Barth James R. , Nolle Daniel E. , Rice Tara N.
Published: January 2008

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the structure, regulation, and performance of banks in the EU and G‐10 countries. This enables one to identify any significant differences in the structure of banking in the nineteen separate countries comprising these two groups. The regulatory, supervisory, and deposit‐insurance environment in which banks operate in each of these countries is also compared and contrasted. This enables one to identify any significant differences in the regulatory environment that may help explain the structure of banking in the various countries. Beyond this, the effect of the overall structural and regulatory environment on individual bank performance is investigated in order to evaluate the appropriateness of existing regulations in individual countries and any proposals for reforming them. Hence, an exploratory empirical analysis based upon a sample of banks in the different countries is conducted to assess the effect of the different “regulatory regimes” on the performance of individual banks, controlling for various bank‐specific and country‐specific factors that may also affect bank performance. In this way, the paper attempts to contribute to an assessment of the appropriate balance between market and regulatory discipline to ensure that banks have sufficient opportunities to compete prudently and profitability in a competitive and global financial marketplace. In the process of conducting such an assessment, the paper necessarily provides information as to whether the U.S. is “out‐of‐step” with banking developments in other industrial countries.
CEO Compensation and Performance of Commercial Banks
Authors: Akhigbe Aigbe , Madura Jeff , Ryan Huldah
Published: January 2008

Much attention has recently been directed toward the relationship between the performance of firms and compensation received by their respective CEOs. We assess this relationship for commercial banks, as regulatory and other industry‐specific conditions can cause the performance‐compensation linkage in the banking industry to differ from that of industrial firms. We find that the accumulated human capital of CEOs and the bank size are positively related to the total compensation (including salary, bonus, and stock options) levels of bank CEOs. We also find a positive significant relationship between bank accounting performance proxies and CEO compensation level for all time horizons. Finally, we find a positive significant relationship between market‐based performance proxy and bank compensation.
A Test of the Impact of Financial Innovation on Economic Growth
Authors: Hao Jonathan , Hunter William C.
Published: January 2008

The objective of this paper is to examine the empirical link between banking and financial system structure and economic growth, by constructing a cross‐country regression model using data over the 1970–1988 period, for a diverse set of countries. We extend the existing literature by explicitly examining the impact of measures of a country's financial deepness, in terms of second stage financial innovations, on a country's rate of economic growth. The cross‐country econometric results suggest that financial development (e.g., as measured by the presence of an organized financial futures market—a second stage innovation) is positively correlated with enhanced economic growth. Sensitivity analysis of the model indicates that the empirical findings are invariant to the inclusion of other variables often cited as determinants of economic growth.
Employee Theft: A Profile of Staff Dishonesty in the Retail Sector
Authors: Beck Adrian , Willis Andrew
Published: January 2008

Data are presented on staff dishonesty in the electrical retail sector deriving from a 1991 survey of 55 Dixons stores in the Dixons Stores Group. Two hundred and seventy seven staff were interviewed about their colleagues' involvement in crime. The survey addressed seven interrelated questions: how many staff steal?, which staff steal?, what do staff steal?, why do staff steal?, where do staff steal from?, do staff get caught? and what stops staff theft? The data add an empirical dimension to an important, but neglected and inaccessible area.
The Right to Silence and Legal Professional Privilege
Authors: Vernon Anthony
Published: January 2008

The recent Blue Arrow and Maxwell cases have highlighted the extremely wide‐ranging powers of investigation and inquiry vested in regulatory authorities such as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and in company liquidators by recent legislation (Companies Act 1985, Insolvency Act 1986, Criminal Justice Act 1987). In this paper, the author reviews the current state of the law on the availability of the privilege against self‐incrimination and of legal professional privilege as protection for senior company officials who face such investigations or inquiries. Through the consideration of a hypothetical scenario, the paper provides some general suggestions with a view to minimising, insofar as possible, the problems, criticisms and adverse publicity for the company which may result from these investigations and inquiries
Providing Assurance that all is well on Money Laundering: What Role for the Internal and External Auditor?
Authors: Tattersall John
Published: January 2008

Senior management and the board of directors of any financial institution need to be provided with assurance that the institution is complying with both the spirit and the letter of laws and guidance on the prevention of the use of financial institutions for money laundering: 1 to avoid financial penalties if money laundering is found by the authorities to have taken place; 2 to protect the reputation of the institution; and 3 to ensure that the institution is seen to be taking a lead in such matters. The board must therefore ensure that full use is made of whatever resources are available to it, ie the compliance officer and compliance department, the internal audit function and the external auditors. This paper comments on the way in which directors and management should seek to obtain such assurance.
Information Technology and the Presentation of Complex Data to Juries in Fraud Trials
Authors: O'Rorke Richard
Published: January 2008

This paper considers of the advantages and limitations of the presentation of evidence by electronic means in three recent trials.
Squeeze 'em: from Legislation to Confiscation
Authors: Groos Wilma F.
Published: January 2008

This paper outlines Dutch criminal law and law of criminal procedure and recent amendments to both. Recent legislation makes it possible, to a greater extent than before, to investigate the financial dealings of criminal organisations. If a special financial investigation reveals the existence of illegally obtained assets, valuable items of property (such as houses, boats or expensive cars) may be seized. If an offender is sentenced to pay a sum of money to the state, this can be recovered — wholly or partly — from the goods seized.
Decisions to Commit Profitable Crime
Authors: Rüdiger Smettan Jürgen
Published: January 2008

This paper presents the results of an empirical study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Freiburg, in 1989–91. The main question of the study was ‘How does the potential perpetrator calculate the costs and benefits of a profitable criminal act?’. Decision theory is used to select a special set of variables in order to explain criminal enrichment and from this four variables explained most of the criminal behaviour that is planned and carried out to yield criminal profit. Subjective evaluations of profit, risk, punishment and moral costs explained 80–90 per cent of the willingness to commit a profitable crime. Data were collected based on a specially constructed questionnaire using hypothetical decision scenarios. Criminals and non‐criminals answered the questionnaire. The two groups mainly differed in their evaluation of the moral costs and in weighting the profits and punishment of a criminal offence.
‘Someone Else's Money’: Learning from Economic Crime in the Public Sector
Authors: Doig Alan
Published: January 2008

The private sector has traditionally subsumed the issue of fraud within a general acceptance that there are certain costs relating to any commercial activity and, even if they are expensive to deal with, provided they do not rise at a rate faster than the rise in profits, they are not given a high priority. However, the current slump in profits, a reaction to the politics of the 1980s, and an increasingly competitive marketplace are now encouraging more attention to be paid to costs. In the public sector there is no performance indicator of profit. Much of the focus has been on the cost of the delivery of the goods and services and the value for money that it represents. Public sector fraud is therefore often a matter for media or parliamentary attention. In considering how such awareness develops, the problems of dealing with long‐established evidence of fraud and corruption and the multi‐faceted nature of any reform package, this paper considers the recent developments within the Property Services Agency. This case study offers a salutary warning of the need to tackle fraud and corruption earlier rather than later and also underlines the fact that, whether the fraud and corruption occurs in a public or a private sector organisation, it is management's responsibility to deal with it.
International Cooperation between Investigation Authorities and Public Prosecutors
Authors: Koers J.
Published: January 2008

This paper discusses international regulations in criminal law. Several definitions of ‘limited legal aid’ are considered. The system of the various criminal treaties, together with their additional protocols, qualifications and explanations, is interpreted. The paper also looks at the separate customs treaties and EEC Regulation 1468/81. Finally, these treaties and the Additional Schengen Treaty of 19th June, 1990, are discussed.
Interview with George Staple, Director of the Serious Fraud Office
Authors: Weait Matthew
Published: January 2008

The Serious Fraud Office was set up on the recommendation of the Roskill Committee by the Criminal Justice Act 1987. It is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of serious and complex fraud. In recent years the Office has been criticised for the way in which it handles cases, largely as a result of the perception that there have been too many acquittals in the cases which it has chosen to prosecute. In this interview, Matthew Weait discusses the role and aims and problems of the Office with its present Director, George Staple. Mr Staple considers the problems which the Office faces, the extent to which he considers criticism justified and wider issues relating to the effective prosecution of fraud. George Staple, 52, took up the post of Director in April 1992. Formerly senior litigation Partner of Clifford Chance, he was appointed in 1986 as a Companies Act Inspector. Between 1987 and 1991 he sat as a Chairman of the Authorisation and Disciplinary Tribunal of the Securities Association and the Securities and Futures Authority. For many years Mr Staple was a member of the Commercial Court Committee and served as Treasurer of the Law Society from 1989 to 1992.
A CERT for Europe
Authors: Collier Paul
Published: January 2008

With our growing reliance on interconnected computers and networks, viruses and other forms of computer abuse are becoming an increasing problem. Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) have been set up in the USA to respond to the problem, and an organisation called ‘FIRST’ has been formed by the various CERTs to act as their mouthpiece. This paper discusses both the preventative and response roles of CERTs and then looks at what is being done to establish such a system in Europe.
The Guinness Decision — Pure Genius?
Authors: Hems Michael
Published: January 2008

It is argued that current rules and case law on the disclosure of ‘unused material’ raise serious issues relating to confidentiality and have led to logistic problems for the police and prosecution. This is especially true in complex investigations, such as those for fraud. Not only is disquiet about full disclosure justified in the context of these issues, but the submission of ‘unused material’ is also problematic, given the adversarial system of justice in this country. While the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice has addressed these issues partially, the system of disclosure proposed largely maintains the adversarial system and thus will still be subject to the difficulties already encountered. Despite the proposed institution of defence disclosure in certain circumstances, it is argued that the codes of practice for disclosure need to address the logistical problems and confidentiality. If they do not, the difficulties of complying will remain.
Fraud and the Intervention Board
Authors: Doig Alan , Graham Mike
Published: January 2008

The Common Agricultural Policy involves a substantial part of the European Community's multi‐billion pound annual expenditure. Close to the heart of many Member States with their need to respond to demands of the agricultural community, the policy has often resulted in a failure to ensure that effective and adequate means to monitor, scrutinise and police a complex and costly activity are in place. In the UK the Intervention Board has taken the opportunity to develop its own response of an integrated fraud prevention, detection and investigation strategy that is now paying dividends in the protection and policing of the expenditure of public funds.
Measurement of Investigators' Performance — Is it Possible?
Authors: Hammond Stuart
Published: January 2008

This paper considers the methodology for putting together meaningful performance indicators for investigators in BTI. These investigators are primarily involved in investigating the various frauds perpetrated against the company; such as manipulation of the company's billing system, false invoicing by contractors and employee circumvention of stores and systems. It highlights the necessity for both qualitative and quantitative measurement to ensure a quality product (investigation) is provided to the ‘customer’. The author concludes that the introduction of such measurements allows for more objective appraisals of people to be prepared; provides a better overview of the use of resources; and, most encouragingly, results in a belief on the part of investigators themselves that performance indicators are worthwhile.
The Problems of Asset Recovery Within the Jurisdiction of England and Wales: An Overview
Authors: Paisley Belinda
Published: January 2008

The aim of this paper is to examine the many problems that can be encountered in seeking to recover assets in civil proceedings within the jurisdiction of England and Wales and, where possible, to suggest ways of overcoming them. The paper concentrates on national recovery problems, as opposed to recovery problems in the international forum. The paper does not address asset recovery in the context of insolvency. The problems of asset recovery addressed below are practical problems experienced both by the author and other solicitors seeking to recover assets pursuant to a judgment. The paper is based on a case study. Although names and certain details have been changed, the basic facts of the case study are true.
Corporate Crime
Authors: van de Bunt H.G.
Published: January 2008

Corporate crimes are crimes committed in the course of otherwise legitimate working procedures in respectable organisations. Although corporate crimes can cause many forms of physical, moral and financial damage, in practice the administration of criminal justice is rather lenient. Should the harmful behaviour of corporations be curbed by the intensification of criminal justice? In this paper the author rejects this option. He prefers fostering the social responsiveness of organisations, i.e. strengthening the ability of organisations to comply with existing social expectations. Responsive means that these expectations are properly assessed and are taken into account in the decision‐making. The author specifies two conditions which determined the extent of responsiveness and proposes several strategies for responsive regulation. Responsive regulation is based upon negotiation and persuasion. Only in this context can penal sanctions be effective; responsive regulation in the shadow of criminal law.
Conversion, Fraud and the Politics of Morality
Authors: Clarke Michael
Published: January 2008

The phenomenon of conversion is usually associated with religion. This paper points out that it has close parallels in romantic love and in political and academic life. It goes on to maintain that the salesman too is an evangelist and that the conversion of the customer or prospect is vital not only to much legitimate selling but to many successful frauds. It concludes by arguing that the conversion of prospects can have protective effects for the fraudster even when his enterprise later fails, since the truly converted are reluctant to believe that he could be a cheat Since many substantial frauds also involve elements of legitimate business activity, this increases the fraudster's chances of succeeding in the struggle for his good name in the politics of morality.
Money‐Laundering: Estimates in Fog
Authors: van Duyne Petrus C.
Published: January 2008

The paper examines certain problems in determining the extent of money‐laundering. The author first discusses the methodological problems inherent in assessing its volume. He then discusses two methods to estimate the extent of money‐laundering. One method is based on the cash‐flow which is generated by many forms of organised crime trade. In cross‐border money‐laundering constructions the banknotes have to be repatriated to the countries of origin. This creates a registered money trail which may be used to estimate the upper limit of money‐laundering in a national economy. The other method is the one used by the Financial Action Task Force of the G‐7. This method is based on the questionable assumption that 10 per cent of the drug trade is intercepted by the police. The author demonstrates the shortcomings of the FATF method which uses the street price level for its calculations. He warns against politically motivated inflated estimates and stresses the necessity for a methodologically responsible empirical research of this phenomenon.
Asset Protection Trusts and Gibraltar's Legislation
Authors: Marrache B.J.S.
Published: January 2008

‘Asset Protection’ can be defined as the process of organising one's assets and affairs in advance, so as to best guard them in the future against future financial loss. ‘Asset Protection Trusts’ and its acronym ‘APT’ are of recent coinage, and refer to a form of highly focused and pro‐active trust planning that is designed to place specific assets beyond the reach of potential future creditors. This type of planning became popular during the 1980s, largely in response to the problems certain groups of ‘high risk’ professionals experienced in the United States in obtaining affordable professional liability/malpractice cover. Gibraltar has passed legislation by way of amendments to its Bankruptcy Ordinance on 8th March, 1990. The legislation aims specifically at transfers into trusts made by non‐resident individual settlors, and provides for a system of confidential registration with the Gibraltar authorities.
Asset Protection Through Whistleblowing
Authors: Vinten Gerald
Published: January 2008

Considerable reliance is placed upon whistleblowers in protecting assets and detecting and avoiding financial crime. Despite this, they suffer persecution and often dismissal, and find they are abandoned by the organisations they thought they were helping, and by society at large whose wider interests they imagined they were serving. There are some signs of recognition of the contribution they make and the injustices they suffer, but equally there continues to be opposition. Internal audit whistleblowers are highlighted in case studies to indicate the ambivalent situation they find themselves in, and to highlight the problems that any employee may face. There is an urgent need to provide legal and other protections to whistleblowers.
Mavericks at the Casino: Legal and Ethical Indeterminacy in the Financial Markets
Authors: Stanley Christopher
Published: January 2008

This paper is a continuation and development of the author's thesis regarding deviant activity in the financial markets of the City of London. The basis of the thesis is that deviant activity in financial institutions has become legitimated in that external regulatory controls have failed to enforce order against the internally generated sub‐cultural codes of practice which have developed consequent upon the forces of economic imperative (the ideology of excellence in the enterprise culture) and globalisation (the technological revolution). The thesis originally dealt with the period between 1984 and 1989 which was characterised as ‘Casino Capitalism’. This paper examines whether this is still relevant and proposes a number of additional elements and examples in its articulation.
Undercover Operations and White Collar Crime
Authors: Parry Helen , Hunt Susan Scott
Published: January 2008

Undercover policing operations are on the increase in the UK and the USA and questions surrounding the judicial and administrative controls of such operations in the field of white collar crime investigations need to be addressed. This paper considers recent case examples involving such methods, looking in particular at recent developments in the law relating to entrapment and agents provocateurs and also at the differing regimes of administrative control in the UK and USA. While some US developments point to a restriction on the scope of undercover operations, the UK courts and European Court of Human Rights have been providing judicial backing to such police methods.
Constructive Trusts and Tracing
Authors: Evans Stuart
Published: January 2008

Does the mere mention of a trust conjure up images of equity‐speak in favour of Great Aunt Maud? Does a constructive trust give you sick building syndrome? Does tracing send you back to the drawing board? The following paper may be just what you need. It explains the concept of a simple trust, and how its fundamental principles manifest themselves in the court‐imposed constructive trust, paying particular attention to the vexed issue of knowledge, the linchpin of constructive trusteeship and the cause of great confusion among those called upon to analyse it. This paper will then examine the related concept of tracing, and amplify how the principles underpinning these remedies are employed by the courts to maximum effect, by reference to recent cases. The inevitable conclusion is that the use of ill‐fitting equitable concepts in a complex and fast‐moving world of commerce is an outmoded approach, which, if anything, creates more problems than it solves.
Materiality Thresholds Defined by Courts: The UK Evidence
Authors: Gin Chong H. , Vinten Gerald
Published: January 2008

Materiality is an ill‐defined yet important concept in auditing. However, lack of an auditing guideline exposes auditors to possible litigations due to failure to detect material misstatement in the financial statements. This paper assesses decisions by UK courts on materiality thresholds. The results from 28 selected cases failed to reveal any consistency in the adoption of materiality thresholds. A guideline is urgently needed by the Auditing Practices Board to increase consistency in decisions on material transactions/events.
Advance fee fraud: the big lie
Authors: Squires Gerry
Published: January 2008

Negotiable instruments by means of which large sums of money are transferred between banks have long been a source of fascination to the more sophisticated fraudsman. Careful study of the instruments and their conventional usage, combined with the exercise of imagination and knowledge of psychology have produced an innovative and audacious strain of fraud which continues to develop, and which has been dramatically successful.
Opportunity makes a thief: a report on computer abuse in the UK
Authors: Hurford Chris
Published: January 2008

The results of the latest Audit Commission survey of computer fraud and abuse have been published in ‘Opportunity Makes a Thief — An Analysis of Computer Abuse’. This paper summarises the key messages from the report and highlights the risks facing organisations and the action which management needs to take.
The use of audit software in fraud detection
Authors: Williams Trevor
Published: January 2008

This paper describes techniques for detecting fraud, irregularities and unusual transactions in computer systems by the use of software. Normally the data would be transferred from the computer system in question to a separate system via the use of backup tapes or a data download. This allows the examination without arousing suspicion. The data are analysed to determine the overall characteristics and speciftc tests then carried out to identify unusual transactions, balances or items. The particular detail of examining purchases, payroll and some banking issues are covered together with describing some general techniques.
Electronic bills of lading — planning for areas of risk
Authors: Nilson Åke
Published: January 2008

This paper explains how the uptake of electronic business practice in international trade is hindered by the difficulty of implementing an electronic equivalent of a document of title. It shows how a current European Commission project tackles the issue and promises to deliver results with cross‐industry application. The paper also gives a brief introduction to the concept of digital signatures and how they can prevent fraud.
The document examiner and fraud investigation
Authors: Hall M.G.
Published: January 2008

This paper aims to give the Investigator of Fraud an appreciation of the sorts of assistance that the Forensic Document Examiner can offer him. It gives an indication as to the material needed from the investigator if the examiner is to provide the maximum help. It contains some information about the possibilities of dating documents.
Trick or Treat!
Authors: Delaney Barry
Published: January 2008

An organisation spending approximately £30bn annually on a vast array of services is doubtless open to as much fraud as any other complex organisation with such a budget at its disposal. However, what is unusual about this organisation — the National Health Service (NHS), is its total reliance on trust for the disposition of a large proportion of that budget. Payments made to independent contractors involve a heavy element of trust. Furthermore, there is no provision for meaningful prepayment checks to ensure that the service claimed for, has indeed been provided, and if so — has been adequately performed.
Derivatives Market Manipulation by ‘Wash Sales’ in Violation of the US Commodity Exchange Act
Authors: Swan Edward
Published: January 2008

One of the principal goals of derivatives regulation is to prevent market manipulation. Manipulation destroys investor confidence, leads to reduction of trading activity, and reduces the overall prosperity and revenue generated by market activity. To avoid these dire consequences, those societies committed to a market economy generally impose regulation to prevent interference with and distortion of natural market forces of supply and demand.
Getting the Adjustment Right: Controls and Computer Security
Authors: Backhouse James
Published: January 2008

As computers and information technology gradually insinuate themselves into every nook and cranny of business operations, management have begun to appreciate some of the risks as well as the benefits. But why are computer systems so vulnerable? There are many reasons why computer systems need to be protected. Computers are so much smaller and more powerful than they were just a few years ago and so much more extensively used as a consequence that the combination of their ubiquity and the importance of the information that they hold is a magnet for accident and malice alike. When we consider that the data that they process often relates directly to money, and in effect is money in many applications, then the attraction is heightened. Converging computing technology with telecommunications has produced real time systems so that there is no longer any delay between the giving of an instruction and its commission. Bank accounts are updated instantly, whether the instructions were bona fide or fraudulent. Even more mouth watering is the opportunity to initiate the process in one country, debit the account in a second country and post the proceeds to an account in yet a third country. Systems are no longer secreted in a whitecoat computer room environment — the terminal on the teller's desk might, with a little tweaking and know‐how, lead into the sanctus sanctorum of the corporate information heartlands, with devastating effects.
Recovery from the Corrupt
Authors: Robert‐Tissot Simon
Published: January 2008

A further illustration of the increasing grip of the law of equity in enabling monies that are part of a fraud to be recovered by the victim is provided by the Privy Council decision in Attorney‐General for Hong Kong v Warwick Reid. Previous decisions of English and Commonwealth courts based on the old established principles of equity have employed a constructive trust to recover monies that are the proceeds of fraud or are part of a fraudulent design. AG for Hong Kong v Reid showed how the constructive trust would operate to enable the Crown to recover bribes that had been paid to a Hong Kong public officer.
Equitable Security Interests: Their Creation and Priority
Authors: Nolan Richard
Published: January 2008

Fraud, so it seems, never goes out of fashion. The United Bank of Kuwait plc advanced monies to Mr Sahib, and when the monies were not duly repaid, the Bank took proceedings to recover the debt due to it; it obtained judgment against Mr Sahib, and sought to enforce that judgment by obtaining a charging order over Mr Sahib's beneficial interests in two freehold properties in Hampstead. The beneficial interests existed behind statutory trusts for sale, and the trustees for sale of both properties were Mr Sahib and his wife, Mrs Hashim. In due course, charging orders were obtained and then made absolute. At this point, there arose a dispute between the United Bank of Kuwait and the Société Générate Alsacienne de Banque SA (‘Sogenal’). Sogenal claimed that it held an equitable mortgage over the interests which were the subject of the charging order, that its mortgages were created before the charging orders obtained by the United Bank of Kuwait, and that its mortgages consequently ranked in priority to the Bank's charging orders. This dispute as to priorities formed the subject of Chadwick J's decision in United Bank of Kuwait plc v Sahib.
The Role of the Regulators in the Collapse of Barings
Authors: Mahmood Shiraz
Published: January 2008

The failure of Barings Brothers occurred because Mr Nicholas W. Leeson conducted trading which at one point extended Barings' positions on Nikkei 225 futures contracts to a total nominal value of £27bn. When Mr Leeson's strategy proved wrong Barings was unable to support these positions and collapsed. Mr Leeson's authorised activity was arbitrage. He was supposed to exploit marginal differences between the prices of stocks and bonds on the Tokyo and Osaka markets by simultaneously buying on one exchange and selling on the other. The arbitrage carried out by Mr Leeson was largely on futures contracts for the Nikkei index of the 225 leading stocks in the Tokyo Market. Apparently Mr Leeson abandoned his authorised activity of arbitrage, which is a low risk form of trading, towards the end of January and starting taking part in transactions known as straddles. A straddle is effectively a bet that a market will not rise or fall outside a certain range. Mr Leeson bet that Nikkei prices would remain within the 18,500–19,500 range and sold an equal number of ‘puts’ and ‘calls’. A seller of calls is speculating that the market will fall, while a seller of puts is speculating that the market will rise; if the market rises sharply the seller loses money on the calls, if the market falls sharply, as it did in Mr Leeson's case, the seller loses money on the puts. A straddle is only profitable if market prices remain within a specified narrow range.
The Dependability of Computer Evidence
Authors: Anderson Ross
Published: January 2008

The prosecution of many (if not most) white‐collar crimes depends on evidence produced by bank computers, and rests ultimately on the assumption that these systems are secure. One might think that this assumption was reasonable — after all, no bank whose customer records can be altered at will by hackers is likely to remain in business long. However, a number of recent cases have shown that banks' computer security claims cannot be relied on in evidence, for the simple reason that they are unwilling to allow defence experts to examine their security systems. The paper describes a number of recent cases, and discusses their implications.
SIB Seeks to Adopt a More Influential Role
Authors: Houston Karen
Published: January 2008

The future workings of the Securities and Investments Board (SIB) and financial services regulation in general are a constant subject of debate. In May 1993 following his review of the SIB's operations, Andrew Large, its chairman, concluded that the ‘SIB and the regulators need to improve the system's effectiveness and confidence in it, by a more active and formal exercise of the SIB's leadership and by achieving greater transparency for the system’.
Disclosure to Regulators
Authors: Andenas Mads
Published: January 2008

Financial institutions are under a duty to inform their regulators of matters which may include potential breaches of rules causing loss to investors. When investors sue for compensation, courts require disclosure of all documents relevant to the issue. Documents prepared for regulators about potential breaches of rules will generally pass the test of relevance, and must be disclosed unless they fall within an exempt category such as public interest immunity. In a recent case, Kaufmann v Credit Lyomiais Bank, a High Court judge refused to extend public interest immunity for documents sent to the regulators of a bank.
Levels of Playing Field
Authors: Breslin John
Published: January 2008

The effectiveness of an investigation into any criminal offence is obviously vital because it determines the quality of the evidence available for the prosecution at trial. The way in which the investigation is conducted is also vital because mistakes can be made that affect the operation of the due process of law, the effect of which can be the refusal of the trial judge to admit certain evidence at the trial. It can also result in an appellate court overturning a conviction. The sensation caused by the latter to those involved in the prosecution must be akin to winning the World Cup to be informed 12 months later that a new referee has reviewed a video tape of the match and discovered a slight infringement of the offside rule by a player involved in setting up the winning goal. The cup must now be taken down from the trophy cabinet and handed over to the opposing team.
France: The Poussin Saga
Authors: Peacock David
Published: January 2008

Problems to do with the authenticity or otherwise of works of art arise in all jurisdictions and it is normally the purchaser who cries foul when seeking to escape a bad, or even (see elsewhere in this journal) fraudulent bargain. Here we look at how the relevant provision of the French Civil Code worked to the advantage of the seller of a painting, a Poussin, and sec the workings and delays of the French judicial system in operation: though there is no suggestion of fraud (‘dol’) made, the Court of Appeal of Versailles, which finally decided the case, was not fooled by pleadings made that seemed of doubtful trustworthiness.
Israel: Securities Regulation
Authors: Besorai Ahal
Published: January 2008

The first tangible securities regulation legislation in Israel dates back to 1968. In that year, the Securities Act 1968 was passed as a result of the Yadin Committee Report, which examined the administrative and legal aspects of the Israeli stock market and recommended ways in which the market should be regulated.
Kuwait: Law on the Protection of Public Funds
Authors: Al‐Melhem A.A.
Published: January 2008

Certain violations against Kuwait Public Funds (PFs) had occurred during and prior to the invasion of Kuwait, especially abroad, by Kuwaiti and non‐Kuwaiti nationals, when some of the public servants or such employees, who were authorised to administrate Kuwaiti companies abroad, had embezzled public funds, or conspired to obtain benefit in an illegal manner. Consequently, Kuwait has lost approximately $6bn.
USA: The Murderous Aspect of Securities Fraud
Authors: Rutledge Philip
Published: January 2008

The popular notion is that securities frauds are a non‐violent, white‐collar variety of criminal enterprise. Not necessarily so in a recent case generally known as Premier Benefit Capital Trust. The main perpetrators of this alleged fraud, when being called to account before a court for their activities, appear to have turned decidedly violent. They are accused of conspiracy to murder the Federal Court judge hearing the case.
The Price of Contempt
Authors: Froomkin QC Saul
Published: January 2008

As financial crime continues unabated as a growth industry, the frustration of the victims of those crimes seems to be growing exponentially. In the past the major concerns were focused on how to deal with massive multi‐jurisdictional frauds, extradition, and the lack of international cooperation. With time, many of those concerns have, to a great extent, been alleviated.
Art and Cultural Heritage Loss: A Worthy Priority for International Prevention and Enforcement
Authors: Blum Richard H.
Published: January 2008

Offered here is a brief introduction to art and cultural heritage loss. The focus is on ‘crime’ so that ‘loss’ in fact means someone's gain. Nevertheless as is common in characterising international enterpreneurial activity, there may be little common ground on definitions of art and of crime, or willingness to be signatory to existing international treaties. Consider, for example, the failure of Japan and Western European nations, as archaeological treasure consuming—displaying nations to sign the UNESCO Convention intended to protect cultural heritages. Currently American readers learn that Turkey is acting under US civil law to recover its treasures from US collections. One, the Lydian Hoard, has just been returned by the NY Metropolitan Museum. But many legal battles lie ahead for Turkey, and, the list here is but illustrative, for Greece, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Hungary, Germany, the USA and UK, as nations fight over what came from where and belongs to whom. Also contested, what is the public versus private interest to be protected?
Current Developments in the BCCI Affair
Authors: Mahmood Shiraz
Published: January 2008

Since the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) there has been a plethora of BCCI related litigation. This article considers the latest developments in the BCCI saga while focusing on the current state of litigation in both the UK and the USA. It appears that creditors of BCCI will finally be receiving some of their money which was lost as a result of the closure of BCCI on 5th July, 1991. A compensation package requiring the approval of courts in England, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg, the three jurisdictions where BCCI headquarters operated from has finally received the requisite approval (the High Court approved the compensation scheme on 19th December, 1994; a Cayman Islands' court gave its approval on 13th January, 1995; a Luxembourg court approved the package on 31st January, 1995). Under the scheme BCCI's majority shareholders, the Government and ruling family of Abu Dhabi, must pay $1.8bn towards a global settlement fund over a period of three years. The courts' decision states that Abu Dhabi will be subject to the same terms as other creditors and will not be absolved from any future legal action brought by creditors as a result of the present compensation agreement. The initial payment of $1.55bn is calculated to reimburse some 250,000 creditors with payments equal to 20 per cent of their losses by this summer, however, such estimates are subject to a separate agreement worth $425m between BCCI's liquidators and the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia which will not be decided upon by Luxembourg courts until 14th March at the earliest; if this deal is delayed the first payment could drop to 15 per cent. It is anticipated that the final dividend that creditors can expect to receive will be between 20 and 40 per cent, however, this is far from guaranteed due to on‐going litigation and problems in assessing the total number of creditors' claims.
A Case Note: Universal Import Export GmbH v Bank of Scotland
Authors: Walker George
Published: January 2008

The case concerned an action of payment brought by Universal Import Export GmbH against the Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland for payment of the sum of £515,793.95 under a bank draft which had been issued in favour of the pursuers at the request of a firm known as Cosgroves, which held an account with the bank, in settlement of certain goods supplied by the pursuers to Cosgroves. The bank had refused payment on the grounds that the funds in Cosgroves' account had been embezzled from, inter alios, Mads Freres SA, minuters, by Cosgroves and certain other third parties in connection with a money‐laundering operation.
‘The Old Lady and the Alchemist’ or ‘The Collapse of Barings’
Authors: Sarker Rinita
Published: January 2008

First Johnson Matthey, then BCCI and now Barings. The Bank of England's growing list of regulatory failures is as alarming for ordinary investors as it is embarrassing for the Government. The Board of Banking Supervision's (BBS) Report into the collapse of Barings chaired by the Governor of the Bank of England, only adds to general incredulity. Gallantly refusing to criticise The Old Lady, it instead firmly passes the buck for the untimely demise of Britain's oldest merchant bank on to a 28‐year‐old rogue trader, Nick Leeson, and a 51‐year‐old senior manager at the Bank of England, Chris Thompson. If Leeson was the ‘active agent’ in the £827m downfall of Barings, then the Bank of England, as UK ‘lead regulator’ was certainly a passive contributor. But the Report, while tracing a detailed web of accountability at Barings, is striking for its failure to do the same at the Bank of England, preferring instead to gloss over critical issues such as why the Bank of England failed to overhaul its supervision of financial conglomerates. All in all, it serves as damning testimony to the perpetuation of the ‘culture of complacency’ existing within the Bank, and does little to enhance public confidence that lightning will not strike twice.
Network and Communications Security
Authors: Melville Rob
Published: January 2008

A network is a multi‐user computer system where components of the system are linked to enable sharing of resources. The size and type of the network depends on the needs of the organisation, from Local Area Networks (LANs), which are restricted to one site or building, to Wide Area Networks (WANs), which may be international in scope. Communication between the system components may be through cable, telephone lines, radio, satellite or optical fibre according to the sophistication of the organisation's technology.
The Cost of Laundry!
Authors: Nakajima Chizu
Published: January 2008

At a recent meeting of government officials in Trinidad to discuss regional security and in particular the threat of regional and, indeed, international dcstabilisation presented by the illicit drug trade, considerable attention was focused on the role of offshore financial centres in facilitating the financial activities of organised crime groups. Of course, over the years offshore financial centres, typically on small tropical islands in the Caribbean and more recently the Pacific, have attracted a certain amount of criticism. As governments have increasingly recognised the practical importance of taking the profit out of serious crime, thus attacking both the motivation for much criminal activity and undermining liquidity within criminal financial structures, attention has inevitably been focused on the attempts of those involved in protecting the profits of crime to launder it. Ironically when the Criminal Justice Act 1988 provided the courts with powers to deprive convicted criminals of the proceeds of profitable criminal activity in Britain, this gave to organised criminals a clear incentive to launder their ill‐gotten gains. It must be remembered that the laundering of money is an expensive and potentially high risk activity. Therefore, criminals would not normally bother to go to the expense and trouble of laundering the proceeds of their illicit activities unless there was a pressing reason to do so. The prospect of confiscation on conviction is a real risk and, thus, a compelling justification for attempting to obscure the source of such funds. Of course, the 1988 Act did not contain provisions outlawing money laundering, which was unfortunate given the incentive that it gave to the practice.
Alpine Investments BV v Minister van Financiēn
Authors: Edwards Vanessa
Published: January 2008

Following numerous complaints from investors, some established in other Member States, who had made unfortunate investments in commodities futures, the Netherlands prohibited financial intermediaries who offered investments in off‐market commodities futures from cold calling potential clients. With a view to preserving the reputation of the Netherlands financial sector, the prohibition extended to offers of services made to other Member States from the Netherlands. In proceedings challenging the lawfulness of the prohibition, the Netherlands court referred to the Court of Justice questions as to whether the prohibition fell within the scope of Article 59 of the Treaty (freedom to provide services) and, if so, whether it could nonetheless be justified.
Does the Fiduciary Bell Toll?
Authors: Jarvis Kit
Published: January 2008

The Law Commission has recently examined fiduciary relations and securities regulation. The purpose of this paper is a re‐examination of some of the questions posed in the Consultation Paper (No. 124) published in April 1992, in the light of recent case law, pending the imminent publication of the Commission's final report on the matter.
Tracing into an Overdrawn Bank Account — When does Money Cease to Exist?
Authors: Breslin John
Published: January 2008

The law relating to tracing is complicated, littered with inconsistencies and possibly now verging on a state of disarray. The complications are ever increasing as the topic becomes inevitably intertwined with the law relating to constructive trusts and restitution. This article concentrates on a specific aspect of the law of tracing, namely, the extent to which one can trace money paid into an overdrawn bank account.
The Caribbean: Trouble in Paradise — The Paradox of Anti Money Laundering Initiatives
Authors: Jeremie John S.
Published: January 2008

Despite recent signs of activity, the Caribbean has not as a whole embraced the anti money‐laundering initiatives which have defined the legislative agendas of many territories for the last decade. Much of the problem is perhaps endemic. Buffeted by hostile global economic conditions and soft international demand for traditional products several Caribbean economies have been buoyed, albeit in discreet fashion, by the proceeds of illicit drug trafficking. In many cases therefore, there has been little in terms of an impetus to encourage governments to decisive action.