Financial Transparency Coalition

The £6bn Trade in Animal Smuggling The Independent, March 6, 2011 Use Africa’s stolen billions to stem the need for aid Mail & Guardian Online, March 7, 2011 Black money: Experts take on what the govt can do Economic Times, March 6, 2011 Staying secret gets harder for banks The National, March 4, 2011 Corporate

Better transparency in the extractive industries is essential, but, in all sectors, multinationals take advantage of the secrecy offered by the opaque financial system to avoid contributing to the societies from which they benefit. For this reason, country by country reporting must become a mandatory requirement for multinationals in all sectors – and for oil company executives like Peter Voser to attack such transparency suggests not only being out of touch with the political times, and indeed his own company’s position, but also a lack of concern for some of the poorest people on the planet. Wednesday, the Financial...

The beginning of 2011 may yet be remembered as a new dawn of the protest and fresh interest in civic engagement worldwide. From Wisconsin to Tunisia workers and citizens have risen up against a leader, in protest of a law, or in retaliation of a loss. In Egypt in Tunisia, their voices were not only heard, but they affected regime change within weeks. In Wisconsin, two weeks of union protests have sparked a coast-to-coast debate on collective bargaining rights, the erosion of the American middle class, our national priorities, and our values as a country. The viral...

Practice Costs Spain, Developing Countries Dearly in Much-Needed Tax Revenue A recent report by the Spanish observatory on Corporate Social Responsibility, which comprises several civil society organisations, reveals that ALL companies listed in the Spanish stock exchange operate directly or indirectly through jurisdictions which are considered opaque by the Financial Secrecy Index of the Tax Justice Network. The report entitled, “Corporate Social Responsibility in the annual report of companies in the IBEX35,” highlights that more than 80% of companies that are part of the benchmark stock market index (IBEX 35) in the Spanish stock exchange (the Bolsa de...