Cyberpayments and Money Laundering: Problems and Promise 1998: Roger Molander

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Editorial Reviews

At the request of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an agency of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, RAND conducted and analyzed a strategic decisionmaking exercise to examine money laundering concerns raised by the deployment of cyberpayment systems. Participants in the exercise represented the Executive Branch, the cyberpayment and banking industries, Congress, and academia. The tasks of the exercise were to (1) describe current cyberpayment concepts and systems; (2) identify an initial set of cyberpayment characteristics of particular concern to law enforcement and payment system regulators; (3) identify major issues cyberpayment policies will need to address; and (4) array appropriate recommendations to address potential system abuse in a set of proposed action plans. While it is premature to draft a comprehensive regulatory regime for cyberpayment products, participants agreed that prompt collaborative action by industry and government–and among governments–is needed. Dialogue on standards, regulatory transparency, and vigorous surveillance can prevent the criminal exploitation of cyberpayment system vulnerabilities.

From the Publisher
This report summarizes research performed by RAND for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury as part of FinCEN’s overall effort to examine potential money laundering concerns raised by the deployment of Cyberpayment systems.This study was undertaken in recognition that law enforcement and regulatory authorities will likely be confronted with new challenges in conducting their traditional oversight of the financial services industry and in investigating illicit financial activity. The growth of electroniccommerce presents a new opportunity for criminals to commit fraud and abuse against business firms and consumers. Law enforcement authorities and payment system regulators similarly confront a rapidly changing set of payment technologies that may serve to undermine traditionalinvestigative methods for detecting fraud and abuse.This report should be of special interest to those who are exploring the effects of the information revolution on the nature of crime. It should also be of interest to analysts and observers of electronic commerce concerned with the future evolution of regulatory and law enforcement responses to the information revolution.The purpose of this report and RAND’s research was to explore with the public and private sector the potential vulnerabilities of new payment technologies to abuse by money launderers and other financial criminals. This report is not intended to provide recommendations to either detect or prevent such illicit uses of these systems. Indeed, while these systems are still under development, it would be premature to do so. Rather, this study was designed to foster a constructive dialogue between law enforcement, financial regulators, and the financial services industry so that they are able to take steps to guard against illicit uses of cyberpayment systemsas these systems begin to gain acceptance in the financial marketplace.The research reported here was accomplished within the Critical Technologies Institute (CTI). CTI was created in 1991 by an act of Congress. It is a federally funded research and development center operated by RAND. CTI’s mission is to: Help improve public policy by conducting objective, independent research and analysis to support the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States; Help decisionmakers understand the likely consequences of their decisions and choose among alternative policies; and Improve understanding in both the public and private sectors of the ways in which technological efforts can better serve national objectives.CTI research focuses on problems of science and technology policy that involve or affect multiple Executive Branch agencies, different branches of the U.S. Government, or interaction between the U.S. government and states, other nations, or the private sector.Inquiries regarding CTI or this document may be directed to:Bruce DonDirector, Critical Technologies InstituteRAND1333 H St., N.W.Washington, D.C.

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Beyond the Bottom Line: Socially Innovative Business Owners: Jack Quarter

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Editorial Reviews

Quarter analyzes the contribution of business people who use their business to develop and promote an idealistic social vision. He provides eleven case studies of contemporary innovators from six countries and an historical analysis of this phenomenon.

About the Author
JACK QUARTER is a Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, where he specializes in the study of workplace democracy, co-operatives, non-profits, community development, the social economy, and social investment.

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Reinventing Fundraising: Realizing the Potential of Women’s Philanthropy (Jossey Bass Nonprofit & Public Management Series): Sondra C. Shaw-Hardy, Martha A. Taylor

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Whether solicitors or donors, those involved in philanthropy will benefit from this analytical advisory. The authors have studied the causes that motivate women to contribute and the reasons major fund-raising organizations have not considered women as major contributors in the past. The development of a gender-sensitive program can benefit both sides by educating female donors, teaching volunteers how to reach women with money, and training female volunteers how to pursue major gifts from men and women. The how-to’s are supplemented by profiles of significant, successful organizations and philanthropists, including a look at the work of Tracy Gary, founder of Resourceful Women, an educational and funding agency that helps women with business start-up, investments, and management of inherited wealth. Denise Perry Donavin

Review
“Reinventing Fundraising is new, exciting, and fun to read. These two remarkable authors discuss and convey a great amount of information about a phenomenal part of American history–women’s philanthropy and their volunteer spirit. This book is a must for volunteers, trustees, trust officers, attorneys, financial planners, and all professional fundraisers.” (Brad Holmes, vice president for philanthropy, St. Luke’s Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

“As one of the `new Older Women’ so succinctly described in Reinventing Fundraising, I was intrigued with their realistic and positive assessment of my generation and our philanthropy quotient. These skilled fundraising professionals give us not only a textbook for their own colleagues, but also a gospel for us volunteer donors who aspire to maximize women’s philanthropy and joy of giving. (Elizabeth S. Upjohn)

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Beyond the Bottom Line: Socially Innovative Business Owners: Jack Quarter

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

Quarter examines business owners who use their firms as laboratories for social innovation. After providing an introduction to this phenomenon in an historical perspective and discussing the 19th-century British industrialist Robert Owen, he provides ll case studies of contemporary innovators from six countries-the UK, US, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and New Zealand. The case studies fall into two broad groups. The first involves business people who promote innovative ownership and decision-making strategies such as donating their shares to a trust and thereby creating a company without shareholders so that employees can assume greater control; creating a worker co-operative; and transferring ownership to employees through an employee stock ownership plan. The second group of case studies involves innovative efforts at changing the relationship to the surrounding community through creating socially and environmentally responsible businesses. Quarter concludes by looking at the potential and limitations of this phenomenon for building a social movement. A provocative look at the social organization of work that will be of interest to scholars and researchers of industrial organization and to business leaders examining innovative ownership arrangements.

About the Author
JACK QUARTER is a Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, where he specializes in the study of workplace democracy, co-operatives, non-profits, community development, the social economy, and social investment.

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Business Fraud : Know It & Prevent It: James A. Blanco

• Filed under: Recommended

Review
Blanco’s book identifies and explains fraud in direct, no-nonsense terms… Useful to train staff to detect and thwart fraud. — Security Management, July 2001

A vital handbook to help spot and head off fraud in numerous domains, written by one of America’s premier experts on scams and ripoffs. Former Federal agent Jim Blanco walks the reader through forgery and counterfeit cases, investment, real estate and probate fraud, identity theft, embezzlement, computer and internet fraud, restaurant and tavern cash pilfering and fraud scams against the elderly. Plus much more. With 12 key checklists for fraud prevention. Probably the most comprehensive book on fraud in America available for under $25.

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The Emperor’s Nightingale: Restoring The Integrity Of The Corporation In The Age Of Shareholder Activism: Robert A.g. Monks

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In the 18th century, Adam Smith warned of the dangers of the joint-stock company, the precursor to today’s modern corporation. Smith recognized the benefits of stock ownership–primarily in limiting risk to the investor–but he also saw these entities as a menace, with the potential for unlimited life, size, power, and license. Today, longtime shareholder-activist Robert A.G. Monks echoes these same concerns in The Emperor’s Nightingale.

Monks argues that there are few checks on the governance of public companies and laments the corporate lawlessness that’s rampant today–from toxic-waste dumps to clever tax dodges. He writes, "In the absence of clear owner-driven values, the managers of many publicly held corporations have become increasingly powerful, filling boards to suit their own agendas and commanding enormous personal compensation and severance packages…. With their tremendous power to influence public policy and the public economy, these boards and managers have become increasingly accountable only to themselves. Instead of embracing the challenges of adaptation to and effective engagement in a dynamic, living economy, these short-term driven companies seek to bend the rest of the economic system to their own needs."

Monks believes that the best hope for restoring accountability in today’s corporations are the owners themselves–both individual and institutional shareholders. Only then will the corporate appetite for profits be balanced with the public good. The corporation, says Monks, is an example of a complex adaptive system, and he shows through computer modeling that responsible corporate behavior can enhance, not take away from, a company’s bottom line. If you ever thought that corporate governance was one of those dry and uninteresting subjects, this insightful and thought-provoking book will surely change your mind. –Harry C. Edwards

In The Emperor’s Nightingale, Robert Monks, the world’s foremosst shareholder activist, weaves together parables, case studies, and insights from complexity thinking to reveal the true character of the corporation, as it struggles to reconcile the opposing forces of certainty and uncertainty, the predictable and the serendipitous, and short-term profit versus long-term economic value rooted in the social good.

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Ethical Issues in Social Work (Professional Ethics): Richard Hugman

• Filed under: Recommended

Social workers constantly encounter situations which present ethical problems and dilemmas; these are inseparable form social work practice. This book discusses ethical questions, such as professional conduct, confidentiality and anti-racist practice, relates them to practice and is accessible & up to date.

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Business Fraud : Know It & Prevent It: James A. Blanco

• Filed under: Recommended

Review
Blanco’s book identifies and explains fraud in direct, no-nonsense terms… Useful to train staff to detect and thwart fraud. — Security Management, July 2001

A vital handbook to help spot and head off fraud in numerous domains, written by one of America’s premier experts on scams and ripoffs. Former Federal agent Jim Blanco walks the reader through forgery and counterfeit cases, investment, real estate and probate fraud, identity theft, embezzlement, computer and internet fraud, restaurant and tavern cash pilfering and fraud scams against the elderly. Plus much more. With 12 key checklists for fraud prevention. Probably the most comprehensive book on fraud in America available for under $25.

See all Editorial Reviews

order Business Fraud : Know It & Prevent It: James A. Blanco form Amazon.

Beyond the Bottom Line: Socially Innovative Business Owners: Jack Quarter

• Filed under: Recommended

Quarter examines business owners who use their firms as laboratories for social innovation. After providing an introduction to this phenomenon in an historical perspective and discussing the 19th-century British industrialist Robert Owen, he provides ll case studies of contemporary innovators from six countries-the UK, US, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and New Zealand. The case studies fall into two broad groups. The first involves business people who promote innovative ownership and decision-making strategies such as donating their shares to a trust and thereby creating a company without shareholders so that employees can assume greater control; creating a worker co-operative; and transferring ownership to employees through an employee stock ownership plan. The second group of case studies involves innovative efforts at changing the relationship to the surrounding community through creating socially and environmentally responsible businesses. Quarter concludes by looking at the potential and limitations of this phenomenon for building a social movement. A provocative look at the social organization of work that will be of interest to scholars and researchers of industrial organization and to business leaders examining innovative ownership arrangements.

About the Author
JACK QUARTER is a Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, where he specializes in the study of workplace democracy, co-operatives, non-profits, community development, the social economy, and social investment.

order Beyond the Bottom Line: Socially Innovative Business Owners: Jack Quarter form Amazon.

Between Enterprise and Ethics: Business and Management in a Bimoral Society: John Hendry

• Filed under: Recommended

We live in a ‘bimoral’ society, in which people govern their lives by two contrasting sets of principles. On the one hand there are the principles associated with traditional morality. Although these allow a modicum of self-interest, their emphasis is on our duties and obligations to others: to treat people honestly and with respect, to treat them fairly and without prejudice, to help and are for them when needed, and ultimately, to put their needs above their own. On the other hand there are the principles associated with the entrepreneurial self-interest. These also impose obligations, but of a much more limited kind. Their emphasis is competitive rather than cooperative: to advance our own interests rather than to meet the needs of others. Both sets of principles have always been present in society but in recent years, traditional moral authorities have lost much of their force and the morality of self-interest has acquired a much greater social legitimacy, over a much wider field of behavior, than ever before. The result of this is that in many situations it is no longer at all apparent which set of principles should take precedence. In this book, John Hendry traces the cultural and historical origins of the ‘bimoral’ society have also led to new, more flexible forms of organizing, which have released people’s entrepreneurial energies and significantly enhanced the creative capacities of business. Working within these organizations, however is fraught with moral tensions as obligations and self-interest conflict and managers are pulled in all sorts of different directions. Managing them successfully poses major new challenges of leadership, and ‘moral’ management, as the technical problem-solving that previously characterized managerial work is increasingly accomplished by technology and market mechanisms. The key role of management becomes the political and moral one of determining purposes and priorities, reconciling divergent interests, and nurturing trust in interpersonal relationships. Exploring these tensions and challenges, Hendry identifies new issues of contemporary management and puts recognized issues into context. He also explores the challenges posed for a post-traditional society as it seeks to regulate and govern an increasingly powerful and global business sector.

About the Author

John Hendry is BRESE Professor of Business Administration at Brunel University, a Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, and Adjunct Professor of International Business Ethics at the University of Notre Dame. After obtaining a degree in mathematics from Cambridge he worked in industry and the accounting profession, before completing an MSc and PhD at Imperial College London. He joined the faculty of the London Business School in 1984 and moved to Cranfield School of Management in 1988. He then joined the Judge Institute of Management, University of Cambridge, where he served as founder director of the Cambridge MBA from 1990 to 1998. In 2000 he moved to Birkbeck College, University of London, and in 2002 to Brunel. He currently chairs the advisory board of the RSA/IBE Forum for Ethics in the Workplace and is on the Court of Henley Management College.

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