Financial Transparency Coalition

Joshua Keating posted some excellent information over at Foreign Policy today: Research from Niels Johannesen of the University of Copenhagen and Gabriel Zucman of the Paris School of Economics looks at the result ofinternational agreements taken to prevent tax evasion in the wake of the global financial crisis. The results are not very encouraging for reformers:

BERLIN - Transparency International calls on finance ministers from the Group of 20 leading economies (G20), meeting this week to maintain the growing pressure for greater corporate transparency, particularly of financial institutions.

LONDON - Christian Aid gives two cheers today for European moves to tackle corruption by forcing some large companies to come clean about their payments to governments around the world. However, the charity says the UK Government’s failure to push for stronger EU rules means the upcoming G8 will be an acid test of the commitment to tax transparency. ‘Europe has made some extremely important progress towards tackling corruption linked to the world’s mining, gas, oil and logging companies,’ said Joseph Stead, Christian Aid’s Senior Economic Justice Adviser.

BRUSSELS - Today the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU agreed a compromise text on transparency of extractive industries. The text will be adopted by the Parliament and the Council in the coming months.