Financial Transparency Coalition

While Iran claims its nuclear ambitions are benign—Tehran continues to maintain it is perusing nuclear power for "energy purposes"—the rest of the world has remained skeptical. For years, the international community has grown increasingly alarmed by Tehran's growing ambitions. Mostly they watch, sometimes they speak, and occasionally they act with adequate decisiveness. Among OECD countries, the United States has been the most willing to act. In fact, the United States has maintained some kind of sanctions on Iran—with varying degrees of severity—since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. These have, largely, been to no avail. Analysts generally agree that previous...

Green MEP Sven Giegold tabled a question to the European Commission in July asking about the EU’s position on the IASB’s revision to its constitution that has downgraded its obligation to anyone but those people who use accounts to make investment decisions. I discussed that issue here. Now the Commission has replied as follows:

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission The Commission shares the view of the Honourable Member regarding the importance of properly taking into account the public interest in the IFRS standards setting.

The nine regional councils will ask for country by country reports from their banks and insurers. This will include the following details: Name and number of subsidiaries; numbers of staff employed; profits and amounts of taxes paid. This information should be provided by the company six months after its annual report is published. This information is invaluable in calculating whether a company is paying its fair share of tax in each country. The precedent this sets is very important as the EU is currently considering introducing country by county reporting. The Comite Catholique Contre La Faim et Pour Le...

UK Prime Minister David Cameron gave a speech in Lagos, Nigeria, where he encouraged the European Union to adopt "Publish What You Pay" rules for the mining, oil, and gas industries. According to GFI estimates, Nigeria loses over $14 billion each year to illicit financial flows, far more than any other African nation, with its energy sector being by far the most prominent contributor. Task Force member Christian Aid was quick to praise the development, in particular these comments from his speech: