After fruitlessly trying to speak to ESMA about the various questions we have received on the cum ex scandal, the ESMA Head of Communications asked if I was working for Sven Giegold. “No” I replied whilst thinking, “we must get in touch with Sven, perhaps he will be more helpful in providing answers.” Indeed, he […]
A few weeks ago we tried a different approach to find out what the deal is with offshore banks; offshore cash holds 10% of the global GDP! We pretended that we were interested in opening up a private offshore account. We were trying to fish out information regarding global transparency policies, asset protection, reduction of […]
The days of chain mail armour are long behind us. With virtually every call we make comes the request: “Please send us an e-mail!”. After four weeks of calling and emailing we have received very few replies. Sometimes the e-mails are acknowledged only with an automatic reply, other times they just disappear into the void, […]
Last week I decided to phone up the whistleblowing hotline of the Bank of England. On the other end of the phone was a very kind man, I pictured him sitting in a big comfy armchair with a big mug of strong tea, freshly brewed and steaming. I stated that I was a concerned British […]
Athens, two weeks into the project. We, the call centre agents of the Civil Financial Regulation Office, draw a first balance of our calling experience and want to share some insights! We are beginning to really get a sense of the inability of individuals working within large financial institutions to speak freely. Sometimes this takes […]
Most of the time we get through to an individual working in a relevant department of a financial institution we are told that we must e-mail the communications department or the press office. Time and time again we are told that “all interaction with external entities must, without exception, take place through the outward facing […]
When power is addressed from below, it assumes different masks. It can be benevolent and friendly, open and transparent, mighty and cruel. Economic power presents itself as the power of science, rationality and efficiency. For two weeks now we have been trying to open a discussion with international institutions that try to regulate finance in […]