By Arturo Bris
Arturo Bris is the programme director for strategic finance at IMD in Lausanne. He also teaches in three IMD programmes: advanced strategic management, building on talent and orchestrating winning performance.
Global leaders at the G20 Summit in London earlier this year made one of the most ardent defenses of globalization we have recently seen. But by declaring that “the era of banking secrecy is over”, they paradoxically engaged in a battle that can ultimately undermine democracy and competition, two of the key drivers of globalization.
Since the G20 Summit, banking secrecy has continued to be a hot topic in the media. Obviously, banking secrecy may be considered unethical, unfair, and anti-competitive – but it is legal. It is as legal as feeding meat-producing animals with steroids, or refusing the nationality to a child born within a country’s borders. Countries differ in their regulations, and these differences are good for the world, because they spur competition.
