Financial secrecy drives economic and financial instability and facilitates illicit financial flows including corruption, tax evasion, and tax avoidance.
The Financial Secrecy research programme produces our flagship research product, the financial secrecy index, which has been published every other year since 2009.
The FSI presents an analysis of the world’s financial centres in terms of the secrecy they offer to their clients. It is the only comprehensive ranking that seeks to apply a methodical approach to defining secrecy jurisdictions.
This next edition of the FSI, being published in early 2018, will also extend coverage to beyond 100 jurisdictions for the first time.
The programme also produces research and analysis of financial secrecy instruments used by individuals and companies to hide their wealth, such as trusts.
In terms of policy we hope the FSI will inform the criteria around which countries seek to take defensive measures against tax havens, for example though the creation of tax haven ‘blacklists’. We also promote and support the establishment of registers of beneficial ownership.
Markus Meinzer
Markus Meinzer is our director leading the financial secrecy programme.
You can contact Markus by emailing Markus [at] taxjustice.net