Financial Transparency Coalition

It all started last month when Walgreens, the iconic American pharmacy chain, announced that it would move its headquarters to Switzerland as part of a merger with the European chain Alliance Boots. The move, known as an “inversion”, essentially involves a company merging with another company that is based in a jurisdiction with lower taxes. Once they merge, the newly formed group will usually move its headquarters to the lower tax jurisdiction to avoid paying taxes in their home country. However, this move is usually a pure technicality, meaning that while the...

The U.S. Treasury is in the process of taking a big step toward making it harder for corrupt politicians, drug traffickers and terrorists to make use of the U.S. financial system, by forcing banks to know who their customers actually are. This is something we have been advocating for five years. Treasury recently released a proposed rule and is seeking comment until October 3, 2014. There’s info on how to do that here. It’s worth explaining precisely what we think the problem is, and what the rule should look like if it is...

This week, almost 50 Africa heads of state are in Washington to meet with President Obama for the largest summit ever between the US and Africa governments. But civil society leaders often are the ones holding their governments accountable, so it's imperative that they are involved in the process, as well. On Monday, the State Department hosted a forum for civil society organizations that featured Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden.

Monday marks the start of the US-Africa Summit, a three-day event hosted by President Obama that will bring 50 African heads of state together in Washington. While there will be ample opportunities for government officials to interact, it's vital that civil society organizations (CSO) are heard, as well. On Monday, in addition to a CSO event held at the State Department, Open Society Foundations, in partnership with a number of other CSOs, will be hosting an afternoon event to explore how financial transparency and good governance are vital to...