Financial Transparency Coalition

While Brazil is the only member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, Indian, China, South Africa) bloc still alive in this year's World Cup, members from all five nations will reconvene on the Brazilian town of Fortaleza, just days after the tournament's conclusion. The 2013 BRICS Summit, held in South Africa, reaffirmed the group's commitment to economic development and stability. Ahead of this year's summit, which will be held July 15-17, the FTC offered a submission to the group on how and why financial transparency issues are vital to BRICS' agenda. You can read the full submission here.

In March, we released the first edition of the newly-reinstated FTC Newsletter. The aim of the document is to help inform journalists, allied organizations, governments, and the general public on the work we're doing, as well as the progress made on our policy issues. We've now released the second edition, which covers our work from April to June.

In the process to revise Europe's 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD), European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the creation of public registers of information on the real owners of companies, trusts, and other legal entities in the EU. Public registers of the beneficial owners (real owners), would help greatly in the fight against corruption, trafficking, tax evasion, and other types of illicit financial flows that are perpetrated with the help of anonymous companies with hidden ownership. However, the European Parliament's input is only one piece of the puzzle.

Since February of last year, the European Union has made money laundering and terrorist financing a central focus. In reviewing and updating the third Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD), the European Union has tried to target the process by which criminal proceeds and illicit funds are moved throughout the continent and beyond. We’ve been following their progress closely, and have advocated for sensible reform to allow the EU to set the standard on anti-money laundering. But to be the standard-bearer on financial transparency, EU decision-makers must regulate the anonymous legal entities that...