Financial Transparency Coalition

As the G20 finance ministers assemble in Istanbul this weekend, there’s a good chance at least one of them will repeat the phrase ‘the era of bank secrecy is over’, heard several times since the 2009 G20 Summit. But before anyone thinks of repeating it again, they should instead look at the plans (or lack thereof) for including developing countries. As our new report, Information for the Nations, explains, while new reforms on financial transparency are welcome, the proposals could end up leaving a number of developing countries behind. At...

They say all is fair in love and war. But what about tax? Our panel at the 2013 Financial Transparency Coalition, Ending the Race to the Bottom: Finance in a Cooperative World, will discuss many of the pressing tax issues facing countries, both in Africa and throughout the developing world. I will moderate the panel.

The 10-point Lough Erne communique contained 13 uses of the word ‘should’ and not a single use of the word ‘will’. Perhaps David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, was hoping that no-one would notice the difference and that the British public anger about tax dodging would be satisfied without any actual action. A new poll commissioned by Christian Aid shows that that gamble has failed and that the British public remain as angry, if not more so, than before the G8. When a previous poll was undertaken in February, 80% of the public were angry about tax...

This week more than 100 organisation have joined together to launch the biggest campaign since Make Poverty History. ENOUGH FOOD FOR EVERYONE – IF aims to tackle hunger which grips our world. 1 in 8 people on the planet go to bed hungry every night and more than 2 million children die from malnutrition annually.