Financial Transparency Coalition

Do you know who owns the house behind yours? What about the one down the street, or that mansion in the nice part of town? When anonymous companies are involved, you can't just walk up and ring the door bell, which makes it tough to find out who really owns a house or property. We've seen anonymous companies come up in property ownership time after time, from former Ukrainian President Vktor Yanukovych's mansion to Iran's secret ownership of a Manhattan skyscraper. Now, Transparency International has...

President Obama wants to stop the billions of dollars that are moving offshore from U.S. companies.

Or he at least said so much during his State of the Union address last night:

As Americans, we don't mind paying our fair share of taxes, as long as everybody else does, too. But for far too long, lobbyists have rigged the tax code with loopholes that let some corporations pay nothing while others pay full freight. This year, we have an opportunity to change that. Let's close loopholes so we stop rewarding companies that keep profits abroad, and reward those that...

We’ve been following the review of the European Anti-Money Laundering rules (AMLD) closely and reported on this fascinating policy-making process before. One of our key campaigns, the need for more transparency around those that own and control companies—known as beneficial ownership disclosure—is among the most important changes that are up for consideration. With so-called trilogue negotiations (behind closed-door negotiations between European parliamentarians and diplomats), this reform is entering a crucial phase. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that the different sides of the negotiating table speak the same language when transparency is concerned. A quick recap: in March, the European Parliament...

In the wake of last month's LuxLeaks investigation, the G20's heavy focus on tax avoidance and evasion, and the ongoing trilogue discussion in Europe over the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, Ministers from Germany, France, and Italy have issued a letter calling on greater harmonization and strategy in fighting against tax evasion and avoidance.

"This strong initiative taken by the EU, which could be proposed by the end of 2014, would give Europe the leading place it deserves at the international level," said the letter, signed by Germany's Wolfgang Schäuble, France's Michel Sapin and Italy's Pier Carlo...