About Andres Knobel
How to verify beneficial ownership information – new report
In a world where billions in laundered money can move through the world’s top banks undetected, or where kleptocrats can set up anonymous companies at the ease of a click, the fight against corruption seems to have stayed in the Stone Age. The Tax Justice Network’s new paper suggests proposals to bring the fight against illicit financial flows into the
Read the full article…How to assess the effectiveness of automatic exchange of banking information?
In December 2018 the OECD’s Global Forum published the new terms of reference to assess compliance with the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for automatic exchange of information. Two weeks later, the EU Commission published a report about automatic exchange of information within the EU. Both reports are show the urgent need for effective statistics. Why are civil society organisations
Read the full article…The US can be blacklisted under the OECD’s new rules due to a forgotten commitment
We recently criticised the report the OECD sent this month to the G20 which hinted that 15 (mostly small) jurisdictions are at risk of being blacklisted. We reiterated our concerns over the new OECD criteria to identify tax havens, particularly because of one arbitrary caveat, which looks like it was added just to let the US off the hook. But
Read the full article…The G20 and the OECD disappoint again
We recently published an optimistic blog post about the advances made at the OECD’s annual Global Forum meeting that took place on 22 November 2018. Now, less than 10 days later, the OECD has submitted a report to the G20 and the G20 have issued a Communiqué that together bear some disappointing news. First, the G20’s Communique. We thought it
Read the full article…Tax justice pushes forward at OECD’s Global Forum
The OECD’s Global Forum held its annual meeting in Uruguay on 22 November 2018 where more of the Tax Justice Network’s proposals and those of our allies on automatic exchange of information have been incorporated into Global Forum policies and remarks – albeit some watering down. Momentum for tax justice has been steadily growing since the start of the 21st
Read the full article…Passports and residency for sale: the OECD is sitting on its hands. Here’s how to fix the problem…
Passports and residency issued by many tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions in exchange for money (promoted as “golden visas”), are not only “golden” because they are valuable, but because they are expensive. They aren’t meant for the typical refugee fleeing a civil war, but for the very rich who have no intention of leaving their home, but want to pretend
Read the full article…The abuse of Limited Partnerships in the UK: predicting the future with the Financial Secrecy Index
The Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index assesses jurisdictions on their transparency levels in their legal framework by looking into 20 different indicators including banking secrecy, beneficial ownership registration, anti-money laundering, etc. One of the key principles of the index is the weakest link principle (or “lowest common transparency denominator”), meaning that a jurisdiction will be rated under each indicator
Read the full article…Blacklist, whitewashed: How the OECD bent its rules to help tax haven USA
We’ve criticised for years the farcical nature of ‘tax haven’ blacklists, whether EU or OECD ones. They all turn out to be politicised, misleading and ineffective. If you want an objectively verifiable ranking you need look no further than the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index. But still they come… On July 23rd 2018, the OECD published its report to
Read the full article…OECD stretches the truth to give the US a better transparency rating than Ghana
It’s baffling but the OECD’s Global Forum has awarded the US a “largely compliant” rating on its transparency in exchanging tax information with the international community despite the US being one of the most secretive countries in terms of company ownership. Troublingly, the US, which ranks in second place on the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index, received a better
Read the full article…Country by country reports: why “automatic” is no replacement for “public”
A critical battle is currently being waged in the international tax policy arena over the implementation of country by country reporting, a reporting process that deters and detects tax avoidance by multinational companies, among other things, by requiring companies to provide a global picture of their activities, structures and the taxes that they pay. While country by country reporting would
Read the full article…It’s time for countries to start publishing the data they’re collecting under OECD’s Common Reporting Standard
Some financial centres already publish detailed data on cross-border bank account holdings. The OECD’s Common Reporting Standard is now underway, generating lots of this data: it’s time to publish it all. This would cost nothing, breach no confidentiality, and deliver large benefits. Another 50 countries this year are set to exchange information automatically about cross-border bank account holdings, adding to
Read the full article…Ending secret ownership: we assess the progress and challenges
The richness of the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index is such, (conveying so much more information than just a ranking of the largest contributors to global financial secrecy), we’re now publishing a visual report describing the current state of play with legal and beneficial ownership registration available in 112 jurisdictions. Our report is based on the data contained in
Read the full article…The EU’s latest agreement on amending the anti-money laundering directive: at the vanguard of trust transparency, but still further to go
Our view on the EU’s latest agreement on amending the anti-money laundering directive is that it’s at the vanguard of trust transparency, but there’s still further to go… The EU Parliament and Council recently reached an agreement on an amendment to the 4th Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directive of 2015 that required central beneficial ownership registries for companies and some trusts.
Read the full article…OECD rules vs CRS avoidance strategies: not bad, but short of teeth and too dependent on good faith
The OECD’s Model Mandatory Disclosure rules for CRS avoidance strategies are not bad in our opinion, but short of teeth and far too dependent on good faith by rogue intermediaries and taxpayers… On March 9th, 2018 the OECD published the Model Mandatory Disclosure Rules for CRS Avoidance Arrangements and Opaque Offshore Structures and an FAQ. They are a set of
Read the full article…Regulation of Beneficial Ownership in Latin America and the Caribbean
My paper – Andres Knobel – on “Regulation of Beneficial Ownership in Latin America and the Caribbean” which I wrote for the Inter-American Development Bank is now available in Spanish and English here. The paper, published in November 2017, provides an explanation on the concept, obstacles and nuances of the definition of beneficial ownership. It also mentions typical loopholes, the
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