Financial Transparency Coalition

The OECD is holding a meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information on September 1-2 in Los Cabos, Mexico. There are three objectives. The first is to discuss creating new ways of concluding Tax Information Exchange Agreements. The second is to decide whether the Cayman and St Kitts & Nevis legislation that allows unilateral information exchange is acceptable for information exchange purposes. The third is to set up a peer review monitoring group on information exchange. Documents on the first two agenda items are here. The document on monitoring is here.

ST. PETER PORT, GUERNSEY — The panoramic view of the English Channel and Guernsey’s craggy western shore from Guy Hands’s new £6 million home is splendid. No less so is the vista from his soon-to-be-completed rooftop office here on the eastern side of this small English-speaking island just off the French coast of Normandy.

Our good friend and Task Force member, Richard Murphy, has gotten ahold of the UK/France Summit Communiqué and points out some very exciting language. 1st - both countries acknowledge that 12 TIEA agreements to do not a clean jurisdiction make. And 2nd - both countries call on the OECD to look at the benefits of country-by-country reporting. From the communiqué (emphasis added by Richard Murphy):

France and the United Kingdom will also address the task of implementing the decision of the G20 concerning uncooperative jurisdictions and remain vigilant in ensuring that the...