Financial Transparency Coalition

At its annual conference last week, the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development identified concrete measures that could help developing countries to mobilise the resources needed to achieve the Millennium Developing Goals (MDGs) and go even further to help eradicate world poverty and lay the ground for a fairer global financial system. These measures include:

• taxing the USD 15 to 20 trillion of private wealth sitting in tax havens
• establishing accounting standards that oblige multinational companies to report their profits earned in every country
• or setting rules for the automatic exchange of tax information between countries.

The Task Force...

The above comment has just been made by a senior government official at the Task Force conference in Bergen. How right he is. And he followed up by saying that if the three premises of economics are wrong – there is imperfect information, high transaction costs and irrationality – then making clear what we’re saying combats these failures by reducing asymmetry of information is vital. And transparency he says is key – and reiterates a point I make often – this is because we will all be better off with it. But this requires a change in broader mindset which government won’t...

The 2010 annual conference of the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development in Bergen, Norway is now underway. Even if you weren't able to join us in person, you can still join us virtually as we're streaming the conference live on our website here... Opening remarks from Erik Solheim are now streaming live at this link.

The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development conference in Bergen starting on 28 September also sees a side event on that day when Danish NGO IBIS and a range of its partner launch a new report. That report – entitled ‘Investments for Development: Derailed to Tax Havens: A report on the use of tax havens by Development Finance Institutions’ – has been written by UK based chartered accountant Richard Murphy (me), the director of Tax Research UK, a member organisation of the Co-ordinating Committee. The report, which is sponsored by IBIS, NCA, CRBM, Eurodad, Forum Syd...