Financial Transparency Coalition

This blog post is the first post in a two-part series on the connection between extractive industries and corruption in developing countries. Natural resources, particularly fuels and ores, are often associated paradoxically with stagnant economic growth. More intuitively, natural resource wealth is also often associated with poorer governance, most notably corruption. Understanding why this is the case, however, is not necessarily intuitive. To that end, I’ll explore the correlational relationship between natural resource wealth and corruption in this post and show a model for examining these issues. Next week, I’ll use these theories to talk about some specific hypotheses explaining...

When accused of abusive tax avoidance, the first words out of a mouth of a large-company CEO are usually, "We have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders to avoid taxes." According to a new opinion from Farrer & Co, a major law firm in the UK, that may not be the case. The opinion, which applies only to the United Kingdom, states, "It is not possible to construe a director's statutory obligation to promote the success of the company as a positive duty to avoid tax." FTC Coordinating Committee member Tax Justice Network will be sending a letter to each...

WASHINGTON, DC September 4, 2013 – As G20 leaders gather in Moscow to discuss continued global economic instability and the pressing need for increased growth, the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) urges them to consider recent milestones as a foundation for action. “Moscow’s G20 focus on ‘growth through trust and transparency’ as one of three summit priorities is commendable. Without greater transparency in financial markets, the chances of a real global financial recovery - one that benefits poor and rich alike - remain slim,” said Porter McConnell, Manager of the Financial Transparency Coalition. "Corruption, tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance do...

Undoubtedly, the world has made progress on financial transparency to reduce illicit financial flows in recent years, and the evidence suggests we will continue to do so, at perhaps an even faster rate, in the near future. Yet as these efforts ramp up, threats to efforts to stem illicit financial flows will emerge from technological advancements in currency, most notably Bitcoin. So far, most nations have pursued a piecemeal and largely unilateral approach to regulate digital currency, but this must change. To truly deal with the threat digital currency imposes on continued illicit financial flows, we need an international...