Citigroup names Jane Fraser as first woman CEO

rfi.fr – AFP, 10/09/2020

Citigroup named Jane Fraser as its next CEO, replacing Michael Corbat who
will retire in February Julian R. Photography/AFP

New York (AFP) - Citigroup named Jane Fraser as its next chief executive on Thursday, tapping a woman to lead a giant Wall Street bank for the first time.

She will take over the top job in February, replacing Michael Corbat who will retire.

Fraser, who has served as president and CEO of global consumer banking since 2019, will join the board of directors immediately, the bank said. She has held prior roles for Citi in Latin America and in investment banking.

"I am honored by the Board's decision and grateful to Mike for his leadership and support," Fraser said in a press release.

"Our balance sheet is strong and our commitment to serving our clients and communities is even stronger. I will do everything I can to make all our stakeholders proud of our firm as we continue to build a better bank and improve our returns."

The move comes as Citi pivots to a more challenging operating environment as large banks set aside billions of dollars to prepare for bad loans due to the coronavirus.

Other women have become CEOs of big financial companies or in related industries, such as Abigail Johnson at Fidelity Investments and Julie Sweet at Accenture. But in taking the helm of the fourth-biggest US bank by assets, Fraser joins a group of Wall Street CEOs that until now has been exclusively led by white men.

Her appointment to the top job had been telegraphed from her prior promotion in October 2019 to president and head of global consumer banking. Senior women at JPMorgan Chase are also in line to potentially take the top job to succeed Jamie Dimon, who is expected to retire in the coming years.

Corporate America is also under scrutiny over the paltry number of Black leaders in the wake of massive racial justice protests this year.

Industry faces headwinds

After stumbling badly during the subprime mortgage crisis, Citigroup recovered in the ensuing decade after the 2008 financial crisis.

From 2012 to 2019, the banking giant saw net income rise from $7 billion to $20 billion, Corbat said in the press release.

"We went from returning hardly any capital to returning nearly $80 billion in capital to our shareholders over the last six years," he said.

The improvement coincided with a post-2008 US economic expansion that ended abruptly with the coronavirus outbreak.

In the most recent quarter, Citigroup added $5.6 billion in reserves for bad loans, a factor in a 73 percent drop in profits to $1.3 billion. Large banks are also staring at a lengthy period of low interest rates, putting a damper on another source of profits.

"The pandemic has a grip on the economy and it doesn't seem likely to loosen until vaccines are widely available," Corbat said on a conference call with analysts.

The Scottish-born Fraser joined Citi in 2004 after earlier roles at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company. She has spoken openly about being a working mother in finance, recounting in 2016 how she worked part-time at McKinsey.

Having children "humanized me," Fraser said in the 2016 appearance at the Americas Society. "There is nothing like having children to help you understand where your priorities are."

Fraser also recounted her sometimes unorthodox career moves, such as exiting as head of the private bank in London in 2013 to oversee a turnaround of the mortgage business from St. Louis, Missouri in the midwest of the United States.

"Everyone thought I was completely nuts," she said. "I knew I would grow. I knew I would a learn a completely different skill set."

Shares of Citigroup were flat at $51.41 in late-morning trading.

Indonesia eyes moving capital from congested Jakarta

Yahoo – AFP, April 29, 2019

Jakarta is home to some 30 million people and is also one of the world's fastest
sinking cities due to excessive groundwater extraction (AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia is considering a plan to move its capital away from sprawling megalopolis Jakarta, officials said Monday, but any jump to a new city could still be years away.

The idea of moving Indonesia's seat of government from an urban conglomeration of nearly 30 million people with some of the world's worst traffic jams has stretched on for decades.

Low-lying Jakarta is also prone to annual flooding and is one of the world's fastest sinking cities due to excessive groundwater extraction.

On Monday, urban planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the long-stalled relocation plan won approval from President Joko Widodo who favoured moving the capital away from Indonesia's most populous Java island.

Jakarta, which suffers billions of dollars in annual congestion-and-flood linked economic losses, would remain the country's financial hub.

"(Widodo) decided on ... the option to relocate the capital," Brodjonegoro said after a cabinet meeting.

In a statement before the meeting, Widodo expressed support for the idea, but he did not give an alternate location or a timeline for any move.

"In the future, would Jakarta be able to carry the double burden of being both the centre of government and its business centre?" he asked in the statement.

"If we prepare well from the very beginning, this great (relocation) idea could be realised," he added.

During his re-election campaign, Widodo pledged to spread economic growth more evenly in the nation of 260 million.

He won a second term this month, according to unofficial poll results.

Local media have reported that a possible new capital would be Palangkaraya city on the island of Borneo.

Indonesia's Richest One Percent Controls Nearly Half of Nation's Wealth: Report

Jakarta Globe, Tabita Diela, December 01, 2016

A housewife in the slum area of Kapuk Teko in Jakarta drying her laundry in
 the sun. Many people in living in Indonesia capital live in poverty. (Antara
Photo/Rivan Awal Lingga)

Jakarta. A recent report on global wealth distribution showed that the top 1 percent of Indonesians remain in control of half of the country's wealth despite a dent from weak global commodity prices, reflecting a wide wealth disparity that is unlikely to narrow anytime soon.

The seventh Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse Research Institute shows that the richest 1 percent of Indonesia's adult population of 164 million own 49.3 percent of the country's $1.8 trillion wealth by June this year, a drop from last year's 53.5 percent.

Indonesia is also the world's fourth most unequal country, according to the study. Russia's wealthiest 1 percent owns 74.5 percent assets in the country while in India 58.4 percent and in Thailand 58 percent.

"These numbers showed that social justice in Indonesia is yet to be seen," Eric Alexander Sugandi, an economist with the Jakarta-based think tank Kenta Institute, said. The report found Indonesia is also home to 30 million of the so-called bottom billion, who own less than $248 worth of assets.

Despite the drop this year, the share of the top 1 percent wealth to the overall population is still trending upward, as they keep accumulating wealth through inheritance and investments, Eric said.

"Indonesia does not have inheritance tax like Japan. So the one percent's wealth would be multiplied and unlikely to be caught up by the rest of the population," he said.

Lana Soelistianingsih, an economist from Samuel Assets Management said, the top one percent could have suffered from weak prices of global commodities, mainly coal and palm oil, which made up most of the country's billionaire's assets.

Indonesian coal benchmark price was $51.8 per metric ton in June this year, down 13 percent from $59.6 in June last year. Malaysia Palm Oil Futures was up just 2 percent to $618 per metric ton over the period.

Rupiah depreciation against the US dollar — which the report noted totaling 46 percent drop since 2011 — has also caused wealth decline per adult, the report said.

Still, the report also showed that the remaining of Indonesian population saw some increase in their wealth, which serves as a "source of finance for future consumption, particularly for retirement, and for reducing vulnerability to shocks such as unemployment, ill health, or natural disasters."

The median for wealth in Indonesia is $1,966 for every adult, up 22 percent from last year, the report shows. Indonesia's total household wealth grew by 6.4 percent in 2016 to reach $1.8 trillion this year with 88 percent of it in form of real assets like property and land, and the remainder was in financial assets like time deposits, bonds and stocks.

The number is projected to increase about 44 percent to $2.6 trillion over the next five years.

Indonesia added 13,000 new dollar millionaires in a year, which added up to 112,000 millionaires who owned a total wealth of $500 billion by mid-year 2016. The report defined wealth as the value of financial assets and housing minus the debts owed by households.

The report estimates that the number of dollar millionaires in the country will increase by 55 percent to 173,000 over the next five years.

About 84 percent of the adult population in the country owns less than $10,000, falling into the "frontier wealth" category — in which an adult's wealth is ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 — along with other countries like Ecuador, Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand and Tunisia, the report says.

Overall, the global wealth increased by 1.4 percent to $256 trillion, with Japan in the lead with a 19 percent wealth increase due to rate appreciation.

India pulls 500, 1,000 rupee notes to fight graft

Yahoo – AFP, Annie Banerji, November 8, 2016

An Indian resident holds 500 and 1000 rupee banknotes in New Delhi, on
November 8, 2016 (AFP Photo/Prakash Singh)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the withdrawal of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes from circulation on Tuesday in a shock announcement designed to tackle widespread corruption and tax evasion.

Modi said that while people could exchange their old notes for new bills at banks or post offices until the end of the year, or deposit them in their accounts, they would no longer be legal tender from midnight.

"To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decided that the 500 and 1,000 rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight that is 8 November, 2016," he said in a televised address to the nation.

"This means that these notes will not be acceptable for transaction from midnight onwards."

After a one-day shutdown of all banks and ATMs, new 500 and 2,000 rupee denomination notes would be issued from Thursday by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country's central bank.

The 500 and 1,000 notes, which are worth around $7.50 and $15 respectively, are the largest bills in use in India which is still a massively cash intensive economy.

Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has pledged to crack down on so-called black money -- vast piles of wealth kept hidden from the tax authorities -- with a series of new measures, including 10-year jail terms for evaders.

The latest announcement comes a little over a month after the government raised nearly $10 billion through a tax amnesty for Indians to report undeclared income and assets.

Finance Secretary Shaktikant Das said the decision was "a very bold and powerful and a very decisive step to fight the menace of black money and the use of fake Indian currency notes".

Spy cameras

He warned those with hidden stashes of cash that banks would be extra vigilant with CCTV cameras to record identities and all banking transactions.

While the use of debit and credit cards has increased in the last decade in India, many small family-owned businesses insist on taking cash to evade tax or else ask for mark-ups to cushion the blow.

Most business leaders welcomed Tuesday's announcement although there were some concerns about the impact on small traders.

"It is perhaps the most significant move ever taken to curtail the parallel economy," said Chanda Kochchar, chief executive of ICICI Bank.

"This move will give a sharp boost to all formal channels of payment which in turn will help the formal economy to grow."

Some $439 billion left the country illicitly from 2003-2012, according to estimates from the Global Financial Integrity group in Washington.

Many of India's wealthiest citizens channel money to tax havens and convert it into jewellery and antiques to avoid tax.

Domestically, targets for investigation include temples and ashrams, where lavish donations can be a front for money laundering, and cricket betting. The property sector too is awash with black money.

Only 2.89 percent of Indians pay any income tax at all, India's previous finance minister told parliament in 2013.

The prime minister said that the move was also designed to counter Pakistan-based extremist groups who carry out attacks on India, saying "enemies from across the border" were financing their activities by mass producing counterfeit Indian notes.

Finance secretary Das said there had been a disproportionate rise in the number of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in circulation in the last five years.

He revealed that the new 500 rupee note would bear the image of Delhi's iconic Red Fort while the new pink 2,000 rupee note would feature India's "Mangalyaan" Mars orbiter.

RBI chief Urjit Patel told reporters the central bank was ready to get the new notes into circulation swiftly.

"The RBI has been concerned with the growing menace of fake Indian currency notes which has been increasing in numbers," he added.

While the old bills will no longer be legal tender in shops, hospitals and transport operators will continue to accept them for the next 72 hours.

They would also be accepted at gas stations run by public sector oil companies, and at milk booths and crematoriums.

Related Article:

US charges dozens in India-based call center fraud racket

Indonesia Introduces New Finance Facility to Meet Paris Climate Agreement Goals

Jakarta Globe, Ratri M. Siniwi,  October 27, 2016

Wind turbines used for generating electricity in East Sumba, East Nusa
Tenggara, in this April 2015 file photo. (Antara Photo/Hafiz Mubarak A.)

Jakarta. A new facility has been introduced in Indonesia that will be used to promote economic development to stimulate green growth and improve rural livelihoods.

The Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility, consisting of a loan fund and a grant fund, aims to achieve climate targets set under the Paris Agreement. It will make public funding available to finance renewable energy production and sustainable landscape management.

"This ground-breaking and innovative financial platform, a world first, can transform the lives and livelihoods of millions of Indonesians in rural areas that deserve it the most," Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility steering committee chairman Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said in a statement on Wednesday (26/10).

Through sustainable production of agricultural commodities, the facility will scale up investment in renewable energy to assist the rural poor.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry fully backs the facility as it falls in line with Indonesia's sustainable development aspirations.

"The Indonesian government realizes that we can only achieve the sustainable development goals through holistic policies, such as integrated landscape management," Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Darmin Nasution said. "The facility aims to improve smallholder productivity while at the same time conserving our natural environment."

Along with the facility's steering committee, French bank and financial services company BNP Paribas and multinational investment manager ADM Capital will manage the loan fund.

"By joining in a partnership with the Tropical Landscapes Financing Facility in the capacity of capital markets and structuring adviser, BNP Paribas will help create innovative and collaborative financing mechanisms to bring private capital at scale and with good governance and risk management principles to fund long-term sustainable development projects," BNP Paribas Indonesia chief executive Luc Cardyn said.

The facility's secretariat will be managed by the United Nations Environment Program.

"The facility will trigger progress across several sustainable development goals, including saving the climate, protecting biodiversity and fostering renewable energy," UN Assistant Secretary General Elliott Harris said.

Related Articles:

Joyful ministers seal landmark Paris Agreement to stop global warming

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet.

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

Dutch Queen Máxima Meets Jokowi, Talks Inclusive Finance

Jakarta Globe, Eko Prasetyo, September 01, 2016

President Joko Widodo and first lady Iriana welcome Queen Máxima of the
Netherlands to Jakarta's State Palace on Thursday (01/09). (State Palace Press Photo)

Jakarta. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and first lady Iriana welcomed Queen Máxima of the Netherlands at the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday (01/09), who came as an inclusive finance special envoy of the United Nations Secretary General.

President Jokowi and Queen Máxima discussed financial inclusion plans for Indonesia which the Queen will coordinate with the UN, World Bank and other major institutions.

The president said during her visit to Indonesia Queen Máxima had inspected the implementation of student bank accounts and e-warung cooperatives selling staple foods.

The president and the queen also discussed measures to provide banking access to small businesses, farmers and fishermen.

Targeting Indonesian youth

Queen Máxima said the UN is committed to assist in fintech, or financial technology, innovations initiated by young Indonesians.

"The queen met with young entrepreneurs who have produced many fintech applications and software. She selected two of them to participate in financial development [projects] to accelerate fintech in Indonesia," Jokowi said.

The government has also instructed Indonesian financial institutions to support micro businesses development to encourage economic growth.

"I applaud the Indonesian government's decision to put financial inclusion as one of the Nawa Cita [Jokowi's seven development goals]," the queen said.

Queen Máxima's visit was a follow-up to Jokowi's earlier visit to the Netherlands on Apr. 22.

Related Article:

Queen Máxima praises Indonesia’s financial inclusion efforts

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands speaks at the signing of a memorandum of 

understanding between Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Muliaman

 Hadad and the UN Development Programme's Indonesia director Christophe Bahuet 

during the Indonesia Fintech Festival and Conference in Serpong, Tangerang, 

on Aug, 30.(JP/Anton Hermansyah)

Panama Papers showed vulnerability of whole system: Panama president

Yahoo – AFP, May 3, 2016

Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela delivers keynote address at a luncheon
during the Washington Conference on the Americas at the State Department on
May 3, 2016 in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

Washington (AFP) - The scandal triggered by the Panama Papers leak of information on how and where the world's wealthy stash funds to avoid detection or taxes underscored many countries' vulnerabilities, President Juan Carlos Varela said Tuesday.

Speaking at the State Department in Washington, the Panamanian president said the documents "reveal a worldwide problem, that involves many countries with legal and financial institutions" vulnerable to actions "that are not in the public interest."

Mossack Fonseca's founder lawyer Ramon

 Fonseca is a friend of Panama's President 

Juan Carlos Varela (shown here) and, until 

March, served as a senior advisor in his 

cabinet (AFP Photo/Rodrigo Arangua)

To that end, countries need to improve transparency and information sharing, Varela argued.

"We urge the international community to maintain a respectful dialogue through diplomatic channels," he added.

Panama and the United States last week signed an agreement on sharing of back account information in a step Panama's finance minister hailed as proof of his country's cooperation in fighting tax evasion.

The bilateral agreement comes weeks after the Panama Papers, a series of reports around the world revealing how one Panamanian law firm set up offshore entities to help the world's wealthy stash their assets.

Following the revelations, Panama has come under intense international pressure to open its financial sector to greater transparency or risk being put back on a global "tax haven" blacklist.

While the government has long said it is committed to that goal and has made some reforms in that direction, it has so far not signed up to an international standard on automatic sharing of tax information set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela, left, sits with Singapore's President 

Tony Tan, right, for a meeting at the Istana or presidential palace on Friday, 

April 22, 2016, in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Related Article:

Switzerland, Singapore join clampdown on bank secrecy (Update)

Tax Office Wants to See Your Credit Card Bills

Jakarta Globe, Tabita Diela, March 29, 2016

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro is looking for ways to boost tax revenue.
(Antara Photo/Irfan Anshori)

Jakarta. The tax office seeks to access millions of Indonesian credit card bills as part of its attempt to boost tax revenue and fund the 2016 state budget, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told reporters on Tuesday (29/03).

The Directorate General of Taxation revealed its plans to access data on bank customer's savings accounts last year, prompting bankers to retort with protection measures as part of bank secrecy laws passed in 1998.

As a result, the government is in the process of revising regulations that will impose a mandatory requirement for banks to provide customers' credit card bills to the tax office, Bambang added.

At present, the tax office solely relies on taxpayers to file a self-assisted tax return using their tax registration number (NPWP). However, these often lack relevant details and other information the tax office needs to verify whether a would-be taxpayer has indeed paid all taxes.

"Without enough data, we are basically going to war without any weapon. Our weapon is data, but we still need [the requisite authority and] more access to banks and [Communication and Information Technology] Ministry data," Bambang said.

Mind the gap

According to the 2016 state budget, the tax office must collect at least Rp 1,360 trillion ($100 billion) in taxes this year, which is 28 percent higher than last year's tax revenue realization of Rp 1,061 trillion, as the government needs more money to fund more infrastructure projects.

Last year, the government only collected Rp 9 trillion in income tax from 900,000 individual taxpayers. Only 9.8 million of the total of 27,571,471 registered individual taxpayers filed tax returns, when there should be more than 120 million in the population of around 250 million.

Other measures

The tax office has also taken steps to cooperate with the Attorney General's Office (AGO), the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the National Police in order to gather information on high net worth individuals.

The tax office also seeks to tighten supervision of Indonesia's growing e-commerce sector, with particular attention to payment of value added tax for each transaction over the Internet.

It has also officially introduced, in January, an online payment system that is expected to boost transparency and eventually replace the current manual method of record keeping.

Not so secret

Meanwhile, Singapore has said it would automatically start sharing information with foreign tax authorities from 2018, in line with an agreement signed by more than 51 countries in 2014 that seeks to put an end to tax evasion. As a result, the days of undisclosed assets held offshore may become a thing of the past.

For local banks in Indonesia and elsewhere, the pressure on Singapore is opening up opportunities at home.

To yield greater payment of taxes in Indonesia, a Tax Amnesty bill is currently being deliberated by the House of Representatives with the hope that money parked in offshore accounts will be repatriated to Indonesia.

Indonesia is Singapore's main source of wealth assets, where some $225 billion is believed to be parked in Singapore alone.

"Indonesia accounts for 30-50 percent of business for private banks in Singapore," a Singapore-based banker at a top global wealth manager told Reuters last year.

Editing by Mika Vaswani

Bangladesh heist exposes Philippine dirty money secrets

Yahoo – AFP, Karl Malakunas, 20 March 2016

The $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh central bank's American accounts

 last month was immediately sent via electronic transfer to the Philippines' 

RCBC bank (AFP Photo/Noel Celis)

When mystery hackers launched a stunning raid on Bangladesh's foreign reserves, a plot worthy of a John le Carre spy novel was sparked in the Philippines, exposing the Southeast Asian nation as a dirty money haven.

The $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh central bank's American accounts last month was immediately sent via electronic transfer to the Philippines' RCBC bank, with the thieves deliberately targeting their laundering location.

Maia Deguito, manager of the
RCBC branch in Manila's financial
district, attends a senate hearing
in Manila on March 17, 2016
(AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)

The Philippines has some of the world's strictest bank secrecy laws to protect account holders, while its casinos are exempt from rules altogether aimed at preventing money laundering.

"The Philippines is very attractive (for dirty money) because our laws have gaping holes. It's easy to launder money here," Senator Sergio Osmena, who is pushing for stronger anti-money laundering laws, told AFP.

Still, if the thieves were to get away with their audacious heist, the money had to be moved quickly through the banking system and into the casinos.

And it did.

Authorities took four days to order a recall of the money.

But by then it had vanished -- leaving in its place a tale of death threats, bribes, shady business figures and a bank manager who could be the villain or a victim.

"I did not do anything wrong. If this is a nightmare, I want to wake up now," the manager of RCBC bank, Maia Deguito, told ABS-CBN television this week after authorities stopped her at Manila airport from trying to leave the country.

"I live everyday in fear."

Lorenzo Tan, RCBC president and chief executive

 officer, gives a statement during a senate hearing

in Manila on March 15, 2016 (AFP Photo/Noel Celis)

With authorities in Bangladesh and elsewhere bamboozled over who masterminded the cyber-heist, Deguito's role as manager of the bank that accepted and shifted the money has come under intense scrutiny.

She has accused the bank's president, Lorenzo Tan, of ordering her to move the money. He has fiercely denied the accusations.

Philippine senators who launched an inquiry this week into the affair are yet to determine whether she was a scapegoat or not, but are convinced she was not the mastermind.

"It's a big operation. This could not have been done out of the Philippines alone," Senator Ralph Recto said.

The Senate inquiry and another probe by the Philippines' Anti-Money Laundering Council have hit several major hurdles, including a security camera at the bank not working when the money was shifted.

Accusations and counter-accusations between Deguito and RCBC management have further confused investigators.

'Money trail'

A final roadblock has emerged at the casinos, with the money apparently vanishing in mountains of gambling chips and mysterious middlemen.

Julia Abad (R), deputy director of the anti-money laundering council, speaks

at a senate hearing in Manila on March 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)

"Our money trail ended at the casinos," Julia Abad, deputy director of the anti-money laundering council, told senators Tuesday.

On February 5, the same day Bangladesh Bank was hacked, the money was sent electronically to four accounts in Deguito's RCBC branch in the financial capital of Makati, according to testimony to the Senate inquiry.

Those accounts appeared to have been set up solely for that purpose because they were done using aliases, the Senate inquiry heard.

After that, the bulk of the money was transferred into accounts of a local ethnic Chinese businessmen, William Go, who has since protested his innocence. He said his signature was forged to set up the accounts.

From there, the money was briefly held by Philrem, a foreign exchange brokerage.

Philrem President Salud Bautista told the Senate inquiry $30 million went to a man named Weikang Xu.

Maia Deguito, manager of the
RCBC branch in Manila's financial
district, confers with one of her
lawyers during a senate hearing
in Manila on March 17, 2016
(AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)

He was described as a casino junket operator but senators have said they know little more about him other than he is of Chinese origin.

The anti-money laundering council said another $29 million ended up in Solaire, a casino on a glittering Manila bayside strip that the Philippines hopes will become one of the world's biggest gambling destinations.

That money was exchanged into chips but could only be turned back into cash after being played in the casino, its management told the Senate inquiry.

Another $21 million was sent to Eastern Hawaii Leisure, which runs a sparsely furnished casino with Chinese-only television in Santa Ana, a sleepy town in the far northern Philippines, according to the council.

Senator Osmena said the case was likely just the tip of the iceberg.

"This could have happened hundreds of times already," he said.

"We discovered this one only because someone complained. But normally, if a drug dealer from Burma (Myanmar) or China would send money here, no one would complain."