Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON, DC – One year out from passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act and three months after it was supposed to come into effect, a key anti-corruption and transparency measure—the Cardin-Lugar provision (Section 1504)—is still sitting on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) drafting board. The provision to require oil, gas, and mineral companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments is considered an historic move towards shedding light on the operations of a multi-billion dollar industry.

Over the last decade or so, investment banks have chronically put their profits ahead of the interests of the community. Take Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, that sold complex financial structures en masse, which helped spread toxic mortgages throughout the financial system. In 2008 our financial system nearly collapsed, in large part because of these toxic mortgages. Goldman Sachs actually profited from that meltdown, by putting millions of dollars into a subprime mortgage deal in 2007. Soon after that little stunt, the firm paid a settlement fine of $550 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for charges...

Delaying Release of Final Rules on Extractive Industries Disclosure Law Will Hurt Developing Countries, Could Weaken Enforcement The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in April that the final rules for Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection act could be delayed until sometime between August and December 2011, at the earliest.  Once enacted, Section 1504 would require companies operating in the oil, gas and mining industries (the extractive industries) that have to report to the SEC, which includes—at a minimum—all such companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges, to report payments made to the...

It’s a question that many in the compliance industry ask: why can’t the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission give crystal clear guidance on what a proper compliance program should look like?