Financial Transparency Coalition

Switzerland faces economic sanctions if it delays opening up its notoriously secretive banks to international scrutiny. The threat will be made today by world finance ministers in a key meeting to discuss how to broaden the crackdown on tax havens that are draining exchequers of tens of billions of dollars each year.

HAMILTON, Bermuda -- Bermuda's top elected official survived a vote of no-confidence after a 14-hour parliamentary debate here over the weekend, but Prime Minister Ewart Brown remains the focus of fiery public debate over the motives that led him to accept four freed prisoners from the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

More than $500bn in global economic stimulus spending could be lost to wasteful and fraudulent procurement practices ranging from bribery to selecting less efficient service providers, according to a report on Monday by Kroll, the world’s leading risk consultancy.

Two months ago G20 leaders pledged a crackdown on tax havens in response to the global financial crisis. But how much has changed?