When leaders of the world's biggest economies meet tomorrow for the G-20 summit in London, offshore financial centres are expected to be in their line of fire.

Several members of the Group of 20 — including Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy — have made threatening noises against tax havens. A "blacklist" of uncooperative jurisdictions and even sanctions have been mooted.

But research by a professor in Australia has found that the worst examples of bank secrecy, money laundering and tax fraud can be found in the world's biggest economies.

Jason Sharman, a political scientist at Australia's Griffith University, started out with a budget of $10,000, as he sought to find out where and how he could open secret bank accounts and form anonymous shell companies.

His work was highlighted by leading financial magazine The Economist. Prof. Sharman found it more difficult to open a secret bank account in Bermuda than in Delaware. And he was able to form a company in the UK, without providing identification, in less than an hour over the internet.

Shady clients seek banks who do not bother to ask for names, The Economist reported, adding that the advantage was that what their bankers do not know, they can never be forced to reveal.

"Nowhere is this more prevalent than in America," the magazine reported. "Take Nevada, for example. Its official website touts its 'limited reporting and disclosure requirements' and a speedy one-hour incorporation service. Nevada does not ask for the names of company shareholders, nor does it routinely share the little information it has with the federal government.

"There is demand for this ask-no-questions approach. The state, with a population of only 2.6 million, incorporates about 80,000 new firms a year and now has more than 400,000, roughly one for every six people. A study by the Internal Revenue Service found that 50 to 90 percent of those registering companies were already in breach of federal tax laws elsewhere."

America offers foreign investors "all the elements of a tax haven", Prof. Sharman found, as it does not tax interest gains on their bank deposits and also offers secrecy.

Prof. Sharman tried to open anonymous shell companies and bank accounts 45 times across the world. These were successful in 17 cases, of which 13 were in OECD countries.

"One example was Britain, where in 45 minutes on the internet he formed a company without providing identification, was issued with bearer shares (which have been almost universally outlawed because they confer completely anonymous ownership) as well as nominee directors and a secretary," The Economist reported. "All was achieved at a cost of $753. In other cases Mr Sharman formed companies by providing no more than a scanned copy of his driving licence. In contrast, when trying to open accounts in Bermuda and Switzerland, he was asked for documentation such as notarised copies of his birth certificate."

Prof. Sharman's conclusion from his research was a damning indictment of the US, whose President Barack Obama has vowed to "shut down the tax havens".

"In practice OECD countries have much laxer regulation on shell corporations than classic tax havens," Mr Sharman concludes. "And the US is the worst on this score, worse than Liechtenstein and worse than Somalia."

Asked for a comment on the story, financial regulator Bermuda Monetary Authority said: "Our vetting processes are rigorous, reflecting Bermuda's well-established Know Your Customer policies that have been in place for over 50 years, long before formal anti-money laundering controls were adopted globally.

"We remain ever mindful about the quality of the business being conducted from or within Bermuda, preferring quality over quantity. And we encourage all stakeholders within the Bermuda market to take this approach in their own operations."

Only last week, the BMA issued new guidelines on its expanded powers to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism granted by recently introduced legislation.

The guidelines, accessible through the BMA's website (www.bma.bm), include details on the cancellation of registrations of non-licensed persons, obtaining information, imposing penalties and new fining powers over relevant financial institutions.