Financial Transparency Coalition

The recent moves by the Panamanian government to clean up its image in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal may eventually lead to a more transparency and accountable financial sector. But only if the pressure is kept on the Panamanian government.

PRESS RELEASE The latest investigation from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) zeroes in on the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, and is perhaps the starkest example yet of how financial secrecy helps fuel crime, corruption, and inequality that stifle development around the globe.

Just yesterday the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung published the names of wealthy Germans who are listed as company directors in the well-known tax haven of Panama. An article entitled “Germany’s offshore money and the hacker who helped expose it” by Tim Fernholz at Quartz explains the details and the implications. Among the names were some of the richest German families that include the automaker Porsche, the coffee king Jacobs, and the banker von Fink. While some families claimed they knew nothing, that argument holds no water in a tax haven such as Panama. These names...

according to Jonathan Guthrie of the Financial Times, in discussing the decision of HSBC to close down its operations in Panama (Corruption Perceptions Index score in 2012: 38 out of 100). The decision was purportedly to increase profits – but maybe not in the way one would expect.