Financial Transparency Coalition

The Civil Society 20 (C20) released draft position papers ahead of their summit in June, and, once again, they are looking for your input.

The global network of civil society organizations solicited public comments in an online conversation earlier this year, and incorporated the feedback into the position papers. These documents will guide the group’s campaigning and conversations with policymakers involved in the G20 summit taking place in Brisbane, Australia later this year.

The draft papers are grouped in four issue areas: inclusive growth and employment, infrastructure, climate and sustainability, and governance.

In the C20’s governance position paper, the group touches on a number of issues that are integral to increased financial transparency, including beneficial ownership registers, country by country reporting for corporations, and automatic exchange of information. Pooja Rangaprasad, a regional adviser for the Financial Transparency Coalition, is the co-chair of the Governance Group of the C20.

From the paper:

Corporate secrecy helps hide the identity of individuals seeking to both launder money or evade taxes. More openness makes it harder to hide corrupt or criminal practices that deprive governments of much needed tax revenue or make communities less safe. Openness increases accountability and builds trust in governments, regulators, banks and business alike.

These draft papers are not finalized, however, and the C20 is still looking for feedback. You have until May 16th to provide thoughts on the position papers. To share your voice on the Governance policy paper, you can click here. The group will also hold two webinars (May 12 and 13) where you can hear updates from the working groups and share your comments or concerns. Details about the webinars can be found here.

Image used under Creative Commons licensing / Flickr user Nam Nguyen.