Financial Transparency Coalition

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...

Robin Hodess, Knowledge & Research Director at Transparency International, Draws the Dots between Financial Transparency and Climate Change This year’s Transparency International Global Corruption Report, launched this week in Dhaka, Bangladesh, tackles corruption and climate change. The message? Without better governance, climate change measures could go awry. The risk is corruption. The result could be lack of progress in the reduction of greenhouses gases, putting the planet at risk. The new TI report collects more than 50 articles on corruption threats that could affect climate governance, such as policy capture, and it highlights the challenges that will arise as large amounts...

Tax havens have gotten a lot of press lately. In Britain, the UK Uncut movement has mounted demonstrations across the country against tax dodging by large corporations and wealthy individuals – making the connection between profits parked abroad and deficits and budget cuts at home. Last month in the U.S., The New York Times revealed that GE, one of the nation’s largest companies, earned 46% of its revenue in the U.S. over the last three years but booked less than one-fifth of its profits there, shifting most of its booked profits to low-tax countries. In 2010,...

Transcendent New Book Links Financial Crisis, Corruption, Crime to Offshore System It links terrorism to the financial crisis, corporate tax evasion to Mexican drug cartels, corrupt kleptocrats in developing countries to the ruling elites in some of the biggest countries in the world. It is the very opaque offshore financial system, and it is the focus of Nicholas Shaxson's enlightening new book, "Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens," which was just published in the United States this week. Reading like a John le Carré thriller, Treasure Islands whisks you from the echelons of...