About DC Forum
Financial secrecy has eroded democracy and capitalism on various fronts. Despite the surge of anti-kleptocracy measures being taken in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, much remains to be addressed regarding the role of financial secrecy in undermining democracy, capitalism, and ultimately the basic freedoms we enjoy.
The DC-Forum will address the whole picture of financial secrecy and its ills, bringing together actors from government, the policy world, NGOs, and the fourth estate.
Invisible trillions have polluted the functioning and values of democracies, and we must act to reverse the nefarious political effects of financial secrecy.
What will we be doing?
We will stage various events and develop our website as a resource for thinking about why and how the financial secrecy system should be dismantled. We are working on a comprehensive view of the global financial secrecy system, with snapshot histories of its territories and components.
Topics to be covered:
- Why is the secrecy capitalism has developed incompatible with democracy?
- The undermining of democracy, the strengthening of autocracy
- Who benefits from financial secrecy?
- What journalism has exposed
- What remains unexposed?
- Secrecy within corporations: why is it undemocratic?
- Why investors and those who rely on retirement savings should be against financial secrecy.
- Inequality – how financial secrecy has vastly increased it, and why it is vastly understated because of financial secrecy
- The path to reform
The Forum’s first year will culminate in a large convening event in February 2023.