Financial Transparency Coalition

his U4 Issue Paper looks at the potential of these initiatives to reduce illicit financial flows from extractive sectors, particularly those initiatives that target resource revenue governance. Section 2 provides a brief overview of resource governance challenges and the nature of illicit financial flows in extractive sectors, highlighting consequences for development in poor countries. Section 3 summarises international initiatives to improve resource revenue governance, focusing on information disclosure and certification. It also discusses their comparative achievements and factors for success. Section 4 sums up the potential for these initiatives and suggests priorities within them as well as the possible...

LONDON - The European Commission took a vital step on Tuesday towards helping millions of people in poor countries to benefit from their natural resources by proposing legislation requiring EU-based oil, gas, mining and timber companies to publicly disclose their payments to governments for each project that they invest in around the world.

This fall is shaping up to be a critical season for financial transparency. As the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development prepares for its annual conference on October 6-7, key decisions on country-by-country reporting are anticipated in the U.S. and from the European Commission. Meanwhile, international attention to tax loss facilitated by financial secrecy continues to grow as the global economic crisis drags on. Recently, PWYP Norway’s Piping Profits report highlighted the role regulatory gaps can play in shaping the tax strategies of multinational companies, often to the fiscal detriment of the countries they operate in. The report...

Today, at the United Nations in New York City, President Obama inaugurated the Open Government Partnership (OGP) with Brazil, the co-chair. The OGP is a global effort to improve governance worldwide through transparency and accountability—two principals that many members of this Task Force have argued for persuasively for many years. To become a member of OGP, countries must adopt an Open Government Declaration, deliver a country action plan, and commit to independent reporting. As of today, eight countries have joined the OGP: Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, and—the relentless crusader for anticorruption and better...