Financial system ‘exceptionally secretive’: 11th worst globally

Pedestrians walk in front of the Bank of China building, left, and the Casino Grand Lisboa in Macau

Macau has been ranked 11th for financial secrecy in an index published by the international NGO group, Tax Justice Network (TJN). According to the index, the operations of the territory’s financial system are “exceptionally secretive,” with the MSAR marked as secretive in 70 percent of the 15 indicators measured.
The index, entitled “2015 Financial Secrecy Index” is biennial and compiles data from 15 related indicators to estimate financial secrecy. Macau was ranked highly in indicators of secrecy which included corporate transparency regulation and transparency of beneficial ownership.
TJN noted that transparency in the SAR was a factor in the assessment, adding that, among other problem areas, an absence of requirements for obtaining company ownership and a lack of publicly disclosed accounts affected the ranking.
In addition, the index notes that the region does not avoid promoting tax evasion via a tax credit system, nor does it require residents to pay agents to inform the domestic tax authorities about payments to non-residents.
The index is the biggest survey of global financial secrecy to date. It assessed the jurisdictions of 92 countries for indicators such as corporate, tax and financial regulations, of which Macau ranks 11th most secretive.
Leading this year’s tax index of the most financially secretive jurisdictions is once again Switzerland. Hong Kong was ranked closely behind in second place. In total, the report estimates that between USD21 trillion and USD32 trillion of private financial wealth is located, untaxed or undertaxed in secretive jurisdictions around the world.