Capital without borders : wealth managers and the one percent

Capital without Borders will offer the first in-depth, cross-national examination of the wealth management profession: an extremely powerful professional group about which little is known, except that it controls large flows of capital around the world and has a significant impact on growing wealth inequality. With Oxfam estimating that 1 percent of the global population will own more than half the world's assets by 2016, and policymakers voicing increasingly urgent concerns about the political impact of inequality, this book offers a timely look at the evolution and activities of this central group of players. To understand the workings of their profession, and its complex legal and financial innovations, the author spent two years training to become a wealth manager herself. This experience gave her unique access to practitioners and their methods, and the opportunity to conduct over 60 interviews with wealth managers in 17 countries, from Switzerland to the British Virgin Islands, and from Singapore to South Africa. The findings shed light on the dynamics of growing world wealth inequality, and how they are fueled by political and economic forces. The research will inform ongoing debates about globalization and financialization, in part by making abstract issues concrete and easy to understand for a general readership. Capital without Borders explains the use of offshore banks, shell corporations, and trusts to hide billions in private wealth not only from taxation, but from all manner of legal obligations--including to creditors and family members. Such insights will be of interest not only to scholars and policy-makers, but to anyone interested in the world of wealth and high finance.--