Financial Transparency Coalition

Since the 2009 G20 Summit, we’ve seen repeated claims that banking secrecy is over. But viewed alongside the countless tax and corruption scandals that have plagued us since, it would be understandable if you question that sentiment. In our new analysis, Unequal Exchange, we explore just how far one key transparency tool, the automatic exchange of financial information, has come.

Could we be seeing a return to the bad old days of Swiss Banking? A right wing party in Switzerland, the Swiss People’s Party, has launched an assault on the automatic exchange of banking information, according to Swiss Daily Newspaper Tages Anzeiger. Starting next year, Swiss Banks will need to inform tax authorities in 38 countries

The OECD, a club of rich countries that dominates rule-setting for global financial transparency standards, recently published a Handbook for implementing its new global tool for countries to co-operate in fighting tax evasion, known as the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). The new handbook is part of a series of milestones in the CRS’ roll-out following its initial