Financial Transparency Coalition

Do you know who owns the house behind yours? What about the one down the street, or that mansion in the nice part of town? When anonymous companies are involved, you can't just walk up and ring the door bell, which makes it tough to find out who really owns a house or property. We've seen anonymous companies come up in property ownership time after time, from former Ukrainian President Vktor Yanukovych's mansion to Iran's secret ownership of a Manhattan skyscraper. Now, Transparency International has...

In a new report released this week titled Transparency in Corporate Reporting: Assessing the World’s Largest Companies anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) analyzes the disclosure practices of the world’s largest publicly listed companies. This report is part of a series of studies aimed at evaluating the corporate world’s transparency and accountability practices. In this report, TI looks at 124 corporations and scores them on transparency according to three dimensions: reporting on anti-corruption programs, organizational transparency, and country-by-country reporting. TI’s research finds that many companies are fairly transparent regarding their anti-corruption...

When it comes to transparency and development, Asia is home to many paradoxes. China is ready to overtake the United States as the world's largest economy, but also home to rapidly rising income income inequality. Hong Kong, China's Special Administrative Region, is meanwhile the world's fastest growing tax haven. And, as you will see in the presentation below, Asia is also home to alarming levels of endemic corruption and of financial opacity. High income inequality can undermine social cohesion, create barriers to social and economic mobility, and result in increased corruption and cronyism. Meanwhile, illicit financial flows erode...

This year, when the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania (TTCSP), made its annual list of the world’s most relevant think tanks, it chose four Financial Transparency Coalition members among its ranks. They included Global Witness, Tax Justice Network, and Global Financial Integrity, which ranked #32, #54, and $63 (respectively) for Think Tanks with the Best Advocacy Campaigns. FTC member Transparency International was also highly celebrated on the list, appearing a full twelve times, many of which were top ten spots. Among others, TI ranked #12 for Top Think Tanks Worldwide, #1 for Top...