plaque

English translation: plaque

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:plaque
English translation:plaque
Entered by: Scott de Lesseps

01:51 May 26, 2016
French to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Business/Commerce (general)
French term or phrase: plaque
"Shell banks" sont défines par la loi américaine (US Patriot Act) comme "des banques inscrites dans un pays où elles n'ont pas de présence physique (au minimum une personne emplyée à plein temps) ni d'adresse réelle (simple adresse électronique ou plaque)…."
Scott de Lesseps
United States
Local time: 08:39
plaque
Explanation:
It's the same word in English. It means there's a plaque with its name on at the entrance, but nothing else.


Selected response from:

philgoddard
United States
Grading comment
Thanks to everyone.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +4plaque
philgoddard
4post-office box
Melissa McMahon


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
plaque


Explanation:
It's the same word in English. It means there's a plaque with its name on at the entrance, but nothing else.




Example sentence(s):
  • Gulfstream V Turbo, tailfin number N379P, was owned by Premier Executive Transport Services, incorporated in Delaware, a brass plaque company with nonexistent directors.

    Reference: http://tangibleinfo.blogspot.com/2008/09/rendition-is-grotes...
philgoddard
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 295
Grading comment
Thanks to everyone.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sheri P: I've also seen the word "nameplate" used in this context.
47 mins
  -> Yes, that's another possibility.

neutral  Melissa McMahon: "Plaque-bank" or "Bronze-plaque bank" are terms for shell banks, but in a figurative sense as far as I can see..
1 hr
  -> It doesn't matter whether there's literally a plaque there or not (though if you've ever been to the Cayman islands, you'll have seen lots of real ones).

agree  Sheila Wilson
4 hrs

agree  writeaway: another case of checking the www
6 hrs

agree  AllegroTrans
6 days
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34 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
post-office box


Explanation:
This is based on my understanding of what doesn't count as a "real address" and several definitions of what a "shell bank" is, including this from the Patriot Act itself:

From "Bank Secrecy Act Examination Procedures Sections 313, 314, and 319(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act"
A foreign shell bank is defined as a foreign bank without a physical presence in any country.2
Footnote 2: "Physical presence means a place of business that:
• Is maintained by a foreign bank;
• Is located at a fixed address (other than solely an electronic address or a post-office box) in a country in which the foreign bank is authorized to conduct banking activities, at which location the foreign bank:
– Employs one or more individuals on a full-time basis; and
– Maintains operating records related to its banking activities; and
• Is subject to inspection by the banking authority that licensed the foreign bank to conduct banking activities."

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Note added at 2 hrs (2016-05-26 04:34:15 GMT)
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From an article about shell banks which might explain the use of the term "plaque":
"The law firms charge a fee to set shell companies up and maintain this legal fiction, but this fee is often significantly less than the home tax rate rich individuals and corporations are looking to avoid by engaging in this practice. And a legal fiction it is: one building can be home to thousands of **companies and accounts that are little more than a mailbox with a gilded name plaque**, with no rooms or employees to speak of. But it’s one that allows many to dodge the tax man in a way that beggars belief."
http://enkyinc.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/panama-papers.html

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Note added at 2 hrs (2016-05-26 04:48:12 GMT)
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"Letterbox" might be a better term than PO box, because more inclusive, but I don't think "plaque" means anything different to a letterbox that is the only physical incarnation of a company in a country, whether it literally has a plaque on it or not.


    Reference: http://www.schwartzandballen.com/ImportedDocs/Exam%20Procedu...
Melissa McMahon
Australia
Local time: 23:39
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 56

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  philgoddard: It may well receive its mail in this way, but since the exact same concept exists in English I think you should use it.
47 mins
  -> The source text invokes the authority of the Patriot Act in defining the term, so this the reference I would use. I suspect "plaque" is another way of referring to a letterbox, as per the example in my added note.

neutral  Sheila Wilson: I think plaque would be more suitable for contexts where the source uses the term too
5 hrs

neutral  AllegroTrans: this departs too much from the ST, but I concede that there will be doubtless a "letterbox" somewhere
6 days
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