Financial Transparency Coalition

Late last year, David Cameron announced that the UK would put the names of the people who own and control British companies into the public domain – something that we at Global Witness have long been campaigning for, alongside other NGOs such as ONE and Christian Aid. Such transparency is important because it’s well known that people who want to hide dirty money use the anonymity provided by companies to do so. There are plenty of examples of British companies being abused in this way.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and The Guardian have received troves of documents exposing the offshore banking activities of thousands of wealthy individuals. The information, which was leaked to the ICIJ, highlights the activities of a major private bank in the Channel Islands, a British crown dependency. According to ICIJ, the list of clients includes "donors to the British government, which has been outspoken against tax havens, and some of the most prominent people in British life."

While Brazil is the only member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, Indian, China, South Africa) bloc still alive in this year's World Cup, members from all five nations will reconvene on the Brazilian town of Fortaleza, just days after the tournament's conclusion. The 2013 BRICS Summit, held in South Africa, reaffirmed the group's commitment to economic development and stability. Ahead of this year's summit, which will be held July 15-17, the FTC offered a submission to the group on how and why financial transparency issues are vital to BRICS' agenda. You can read the full submission here.

In March, we released the first edition of the newly-reinstated FTC Newsletter. The aim of the document is to help inform journalists, allied organizations, governments, and the general public on the work we're doing, as well as the progress made on our policy issues. We've now released the second edition, which covers our work from April to June.