Trust in Financial Institutions

Full Title

Trust in Financial Institutions Should be a Primary Role of Good Governments

Context

Since the earliest recorded human history, governments have been in the business of establishing a trusted medium of exchange. Primarily so that they can fund their own operations, collect taxes and encourage trade.

The rules that governments use today to control their fiat currencies are focused on two primary problems, debasement by techniques like counterfeiting and misuse like money laundering. This article focuses on the governments' efforts to control misuses and the trouble that their efforts create for identifiers of humans and other legal entities.

Recognizing Good Governments

The major challenge is that some governments profit from activities under their control that would be illegal in other parts of the world. This is especially true of money laundering. Before the flow of money can be controlled, it must be tracked. That typically means that governments force bankers to identify the entities that move large amounts of money, especially movement across national boundaries.