Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON, DC — The European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD), comprised of 59 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from 18 European countries working on debt, development finance, and poverty reduction, has joined the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) announced today.

“For the last 20 years EURODAD has been a leader in work examining aid effectiveness, capital flight and financial regulation,” said GFI director Raymond Baker.   “Their work on the promotion of responsible finance principles and practices and the redesign of the financial architecture makes them a key addition to the growing membership of the Task Force,” said Baker.

EURODAD joins Task Force members Tax Justice Network, Transparency International, Global Witness, Global Financial Integrity, Christian Aid, Tax Research LLP, the Ford Foundation, representatives from the Governments of Norway, Germany, Denmark, France, Spain, Chile,  the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the 55-member Paris-based Leading Group on Solidarity Levies for Development.

Launched in January 2009, the Task Force is a unique global coalition of civil society organizations and more than 55 governments which advocates for greatly improved transparency and accountability in the global financial system.  The next meeting of the Task Force will be in London, April 6, 2010.

The Task Force advocates five priorities in addressing the current global financial crisis, each one focusing on transparency and extending initiatives that have already begun to be put into place:

1. Curtailment of mispricing in trade imports and exports;
2. Country-by-country accounting of sales, profits, and taxes paid by multinational corporations;
3. Confirmation of beneficial ownership in all banking and securities accounts;
4. Automatic cross-border exchange of tax information on personal and business accounts;
5. Harmonization of predicate offenses under anti-money laundering laws across all Financial Action Task Force cooperating countries.

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Contact:
Monique Perry Danziger
202-293-0740