Financial Transparency Coalition

You probably already know that the Swiss Alps and tiny Caribbean islands aren’t the only places to hide illicit activities behind a veil of banking secrecy. Maybe you know that tax evaders and money launderers are increasingly looking to Asian centers like Hong Kong and Singapore to store their ill-gotten and government-evading dollars. Maybe you even know that some of the best places to hide your black money aren’t in the developing world or on a remote island. They’re in places like Delaware, London, and Nevada. In Delaware and Wyoming, for example, clients can anonymously set up shell corporations (companies...

In 2010 Congress enacted the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which aims to combat tax evasion by U.S. citizens holding investments in offshore accounts. Under this law, the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury require U.S. taxpayers holding financial assets on foreign soil to report those assets. FATCA also requires foreign financial institutions to report certain information about U.S. taxpayers directly to the IRS. The law phases these requirements in several stages. Starting in 2013, the IRS will require participating banks to conduct due diligence for identifying new and pre-existing U.S. accounts and reporting requirements will...

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a global, instrumental inter-governmental group that develops and promotes policies battle money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF issues a set of recommendations to outline criminal justice and regulatory measures that countries should implement to effectively fight these problems. This set includes the FATF’s 40 Recommendations, which cover a complete list of anti-money laundering (AML) measures and span the criminal justice system, law enforcement, the financial system, financial regulation, and international co-operation. Additionally, the FATF releases 9 Special Recommendations, which specifically address terrorist financing. Together the 40+9 Recommendations form the international standard for...

Today, at the United Nations in New York City, President Obama inaugurated the Open Government Partnership (OGP) with Brazil, the co-chair. The OGP is a global effort to improve governance worldwide through transparency and accountability—two principals that many members of this Task Force have argued for persuasively for many years. To become a member of OGP, countries must adopt an Open Government Declaration, deliver a country action plan, and commit to independent reporting. As of today, eight countries have joined the OGP: Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, and—the relentless crusader for anticorruption and better...