Financial Transparency Coalition

Central Bank Governors met in Basel, Switzerland earlier this month and proposed tripling the capital reserve requirement to 7 percent. This came shortly after the Financial Stability Board and Basel Committee for Banking Supervision released a joint statement that said that the benefits of implementing stronger capital and liquidity requirements – which increase the safety and soundness of the banking system – would have net, long-term benefits for the global economy. Many banks argue that having to comply with higher capital requirements by holding onto more of their money would hamper economic development and slow...

Fifty years ago 17 African states celebrated their independence from Britain, France and Belgium. There were high hopes that resource-rich Africa would flourish.

The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development conference in Bergen starting on 28 September also sees a side event on that day when Danish NGO IBIS and a range of its partner launch a new report. That report – entitled ‘Investments for Development: Derailed to Tax Havens: A report on the use of tax havens by Development Finance Institutions’ – has been written by UK based chartered accountant Richard Murphy (me), the director of Tax Research UK, a member organisation of the Co-ordinating Committee. The report, which is sponsored by IBIS, NCA, CRBM, Eurodad, Forum Syd...

Despite the Southern Africa region sustaining an annual growth rate of six percent, the U.N. Summit on the Millennium Development Goals will hear that the majority of Southern Africans remain among the poorest people in the world.