World Leaders’ Weekend Summit Misses Opportunity to Act on Beneficial Ownership or Country-by-Country Reporting
Work Remains to Ensure Developing Countries Benefit Fully From Global Automatic Exchange of Financial Information, but Agreement to Include Developing Countries in OECD BEPS Project an Encouraging Move
WASHINGTON, DC – G20 leaders met this past weekend in Brisbane, Australia for their annual summit, issuing a communiqué full of ambitious proposals for growing the global economy, but noticeably lacking in responses to illicit financial flows, one of the largest drags on development worldwide. Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization, expressed its disappointment at the underwhelming result.
Rachel Payne
Global Financial Integrity
ASAP, GFI, and Yale Inaugurate Prize Honoring Nobel-Winning Economist Amartya Sen
2014 Contest Solicited Essays on Connection between Illicit Flows, Global Poverty, Inequality
WASHINGTON, DC / NEW HAVEN, CT – Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP), Global Financial Integrity (GFI), and the Yale Global Justice Program awarded the inaugural Amartya Sen Prize over the weekend to Max Everest-Phillips, Hamish Russell, and Gillian Brock for their essays on illicit financial flows, poverty, and inequality.
World Leaders Called on to Embrace Transparency Measures to Curtail Illicit Financial Flows
WASHINGTON, DC – As world leaders gather in Australia this week, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) called on the G20 to take strong action against illicit financial flows by embracing simple corporate transparency measures. Specifically, the Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization urged G20 leaders to endorse the creation of public registries of beneficial ownership information as well as require all multinational corporations to publicly report their sales, profits, and taxes-paid on a country-by-country basis, as necessary tools to detect and deter crime, corruption, and tax dodging.
Move Strikes at One of the Biggest Tools for Laundering Money
Danish Plan Raises Pressure on European Council and Commission, G20, and U.S. to Take Action
WASHINGTON, DC – The Danish government announced today that it will create a public registry of beneficial ownership information for all Danish companies in a move lauded by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) as key to cracking down on one of the biggest tools for laundering the proceeds of crime, corruption, and tax evasion.
89 Jurisdictions Commit to Exchange Financial Information Automatically by 2018 but Significant Work Remains
Framework Misses Broader Concept of Illicit Flows
WASHINGTON, DC – While noting significant progress today in the global effort to curb tax evasion, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) expressed concerns that the OECD/G20 movement toward automatic exchange of financial information was excluding the world’s poorest countries from reaping any benefits while failing to deal with the issue of illicit financial flows in comprehensive manor.
October 11th Forum to Focus on Illicit Financial Flows in the Context of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda
High Level Discussion to Be Live-Streamed During the 2014 IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings
WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) President Raymond Baker is to be featured on a World Bank panel on Saturday, October 11, 2014 focusing on the issue of illicit financial flows in the context of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. Taking place as part of the 2014 IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings, the discussion will feature high level representatives from the Governments of Norway, Denmark, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and the World Bank in addition to Mr. Baker.
FinCEN Proposal Aims to Require U.S. Banks to Collect Meaningful Ownership Information on All Accounts, but GFI Warns of Major Loopholes in Proposal
GFI Has Advocated for Such a Requirement Since Its Founding
WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) welcomed a proposed U.S. Treasury Department rule aimed at curtailing the flow of dirty money through the U.S. financial system, but the Washington-based research and advocacy organization called on policymakers to significantly strengthen the draft regulation in comments submitted to the government late Friday.
Issued in late July by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the financial intelligence arm of the U.S. Treasury Department, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on “Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions” seeks to require banks under U.S. jurisdiction to collect information about the beneficial owners of companies for which they open accounts, a change that GFI has advocated for since its founding and one that would bring the U.S. in line with international norms and most other advanced economies.
Study Reveals the Astonishing Breadth of U.S. Phantom Firms’ Threat to Americans’ Livelihoods and Cost to America’s Economy and Government
Report Demonstrates the Clear Need for National Legislation to End Anonymous Incorporation in the U.S.
WASHINGTON, DC – Global Witness, an international investigative and advocacy organization, today released a report, entitled “The Great Rip Off,” studying the use of anonymous U.S. companies for a wide range of illegal and otherwise fraudulent activities in the United States, and outlining the policy steps needed to curb this massive abuse of the incorporation system. Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington DC-based research and advocacy organization that has worked closely with Global Witness over the years, recommends the report as a welcome new resource on an important but often misunderstood issue.
