NOT for the first time has Gerry Fisher (Letters, March 17) cut through the cant of the British Establishment by asking why have the British authorities with all the power and resources at their disposal allowed dirty money to be laundered through the UK banking system and accountancy regulation.
For more than 20 years solicitors and many more involved in financial services have been required to spend considerable resources checking identities of their clients and the source of their money, the cost of which ultimately is paid for by the clientele of these service providers. It is a system for which these professions are left personally exposed and the tests they have to employ idiosyncratic and chaotic.
In Scotland alone this effort is a several billion-pound industry. It is many layered, and quadruplication of client and funding source is the norm. However what evidence is there that it is doing any good?
In 2015 I posed this question, and HM Treasury responded that it had considered such a review but had concluded that it was too difficult to evaluate. So we have our citizens paying for a process whose effect is of very doubtful worth created through the legendary and arrogant incompetence of the UK Civil Service.
Although financial regulation is a reserved power there is an initiative which the Scottish Government could take which would go a long way in providing a platform of clean money which those of us who argue for an independent Scotland deem essential to our national well-being and international reputation.
The Land Register of Scotland wields considerable power over some of the most significant individual and corporate assets in our country, land and heritable property. A purchaser can't claim a title to that land and property without the Keeper of the Land Register accepting an application to register it. Without land registration the asset has no marketable value. Unlike some of our European neighbours Scotland does not require a residential qualification on any individual or organisation as a pre-condition of owning part of Scotland so the need for vigilance is great. The Scottish Parliament must introduce a clean money test whereby no land or property title can be registered unless the Land Register is satisfied as to the source of the money used to purchase these assets. In this way the Scottish Government becomes the ultimate steward of all our land as it should be, given that our land is our most precious national asset, and our Land Register can be better resourced to investigate the source of money than private financial service providers.
Graeme McCormick,
Conveyancing Direct Solicitors, The Salmond Chambers,
53 Morrison Street, Glasgow.
PROPOSED sanctions against rich foreign oligarchs include having a “real” UK person accountable for their actions (Cross-party drive begins to hit the pockets of Kremlin’s cronies", The Herald, March 19). Also proposed is having sight of a birth certificate or a passport to confirm a person's identity and assess the legitimacy of the person and the source of the funds.
Until May of last year when my branch closed I worked for a major high street bank. One of the jobs I worked at in the bank was opening savings/current/business accounts for branch customers and prospective customers. In order to open a bank account the person needed to provide ID in the form of a passport or a photo driving licence, proof of address and proof of source of funds. Business accounts required additional information. Opening an account was no easy process.
Why then does it mean that is it so difficult for the ordinary man in the street to open a bank account for personal or business use whilst foreign oligarchs can have their pick of UK financial products? Perhaps foreign oligarchs are more trustworthy than our own citizens.
Anne-Marie Colgan,
10 Castle Wynd, Bothwell.
THROUGHOUT its bankruptcy and bailout by the Bank of England (with taxpayers' money) the Royal Bank of Scotland issued its own bank notes and continues to do so. “The Royal Bank of Scotland plc promises to pay the bearer on demand the sum of Five Pounds Sterling at its Head Office here in Edinburgh by order of the Board.” Why has RBS, given its disgraceful record been allowed to continue issuing its own bank notes? It also issues notes through its Ulster Bank subsidiary. Indeed why was an Australian bank (Clydesdale Bank) allowed to do so or a Yorkshire Building Society (Bank of Scotland). These private companies are not meaningful symbols of Scottish identity, pride or nationalism.
Do those in Northern Ireland take pride in notes issued by RBS, Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Bank or Danske Bank?
Of course these notes are not legal tender but an invitation, if one is so inclined, in the case of RBS to take it to Edinburgh and exchange it for a Bank of England note to prove its value.
If the Speaker can rebrand the Houses of Parliament as the UK Parliament to better reflect the realities of devolution, the Governor of the Bank of England can rebrand his organisation as the UK Central Bank and issue notes accordingly.
According to reports in the weekend press this should be of no interest to the SNP leadership who now favour a separate Scottish currency rather than the euro or sterling.
James Robb,
Redclyffe Gardens, Helensburgh.
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