Financial Transparency Coalition

Central Bank Governors met in Basel, Switzerland earlier this month and proposed tripling the capital reserve requirement to 7 percent. This came shortly after the Financial Stability Board and Basel Committee for Banking Supervision released a joint statement that said that the benefits of implementing stronger capital and liquidity requirements – which increase the safety and soundness of the banking system – would have net, long-term benefits for the global economy. Many banks argue that having to comply with higher capital requirements by holding onto more of their money would hamper economic development and slow...

If you’ve been following the melodrama surrounding the Bank of Kabul unfold, you’ll already know that the situation has (somewhat) stabilized. If you haven’t, here’s what you missed. Last week panic struck when President Karzai approved the dismissal of the Bank’s CEO, Sherkhan Farnood, amid numerous allegations of large scale corruption. According to high-level reports, top executives of the bank had been lending millions of dollars to the political elite for purchases of high-end real estate in Dubai. In the face of United Arab Emirates’ alarming real estate bubble, these investments are looking frighteningly sour. If...

I read an article from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today detailing the settlement of charges by United States and New York prosecutors against UK-based Barclays PLC for accepting money from sanctioned countries. The bank was accused of concealing the origins of and then accepting money from Cuba, Libya, Iran and other sanctioned countries whose money may not legally enter the United States.

According to U.S. prosecutors, Barclays followed instructions from foreign banks to omit their names from payment messages. Barclays also routed certain payments through an internal account so they would appear to be coming from...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A May 2010 report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI) examines where trillions of dollars in illicit finances—the proceeds of crime, corruption, and tax evasion—are being deposited.