Historic EU Transparency Rules Would Build Upon Landmark Cardin-Lugar Provisions to Include Logging Companies and Large, Privately-Owned Firms

April 9, 2013
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) lauded European leaders today for agreeing to adopt historic transparency rules for European companies operating in the extractive sectors.  The rules, announced this evening in Brussels, will require large, privately-owned European companies and EU-listed firms operating in the oil, gas, mining, and logging sectors to disclose information on payments made to governments.

"This agreement is a major victory for anyone who cares about fighting poverty, protecting investors, making markets more efficient, or reducing corruption,” remarked GFI Director Raymond Baker. "Our research shows that the developing world loses roughly US$1 trillion per year to crime, corruption, and tax evasion. This is a systemic problem caused largely by the opaque, secretive global financial system. For citizens of resource-rich countries, the new EU rules will shine a light in places that need it most."

The agreement will require firms covered by the rules to disclose on a project-by-project by project basis all payments made to governments above €100,000 (approximately US$131,000) including taxes-paid, royalty fees, and license fees.

March 27, 2013
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) today praised the United Nations High-Level Panel (HLP) of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda for highlighting the need to tackle illicit financial flows and the role of tax havens as key to global development moving forward.

“Tax haven secrecy drained developing countries of US$859 billion in illicit financial outflows in 2010, ten times more than the US$88 billion they received in official development assistance,” said GFI Director Raymond Baker. “This is an astronomically large amount of money. We’re talking about nearly US$1 trillion that could have been used to invest in healthcare, education, and infrastructure in the world’s poorest countries. It’s nearly a US$1 trillion dollars that could have been used to pull people out of poverty and save lives.”

“Curtailing this illicit outflow of money is crucial to global development efforts, and it’s fantastic to see the High Level Panel prioritize the fight against illicit financial flows.”

GFI Director Raymond Baker Releases Statement on Sen. Levin’s Decision to Not Seek Re-Election in 2014

March 8, 2013
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Raymond Baker, director of Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization, released the following statement upon news late yesterday that U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) would not seek reelection in 2014:

"Senator Carl Levin has for many years been a tireless fighter for transparency and accountability in the international financial system.  As chairman and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Sen. Levin has played a pivotal role in exposing many of the biggest financial fraud schemes of the twenty-first century. He led efforts to investigate offshore abuse in the collapse of Enron, exposed rampant money-laundering facilitation on behalf of global banking giants like HSBC and Riggs, and held hearings revealing how both UBS and LGT Bank helped thousands of wealthy Americans evade paying taxes to the IRS.

Global Financial Integrity Issues Statement in Advance of Thursday Morning’s Senate Banking Hearing on Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Failures

March 6, 2013
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – In the wake of recent money laundering compliance failures at major U.S. and international banks, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is currently scheduled to hold a hearing tomorrow, Thursday, March 7, 2013 entitled, “Patterns of Abuse: Assessing Bank Secrecy Act Compliance and Enforcement.” Heather Lowe, Legal Counsel and Director of Government Affairs at Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization, issued the following statement in advance of the hearing:

"As recent events demonstrate, there is clearly a problem with anti-money laundering compliance, at least with respect to large banks, in the U.S. banking system. We have repeatedly seen that some financial institutions are simply not putting the legally required controls in place to prevent money laundering.

GFI Praises European Union for Committing to Require Financial Institutions to Disclose Profits, Taxes, Subsidies, and Staff Numbers on a Country-by-Country Basis

Civil Society Calls on E.U. and U.S. to Expand Transparency Rules beyond Financial Institutions to All Sectors

February 28, 2013
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) praised European Union leaders today for their commitment to requiring banks to disclose profits-made, taxes-paid, subsidiaries, and staff levels on a country-by-country basis, and the Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization called upon the United States to follow Europe’s lead and adopt similar rules.

“This is a major victory for taxpayers in Europe as well as for citizens in the developing world,” said GFI Director Raymond Baker. “Disclosing this information will make it much more difficult for financial institutions to artificially shift their profits to low and no tax countries and dodge taxes, at a time when rich and poor nations alike are struggling to collect enough revenue.”

Bank of Russia Governor: $50 Billion Illegally Flowed Out of Russia in 2012

February 21, 2013
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – According to media reports, the Governor of the Central Bank of Russia stated Wednesday that roughly $50 billion was illegally siphoned out of Russia in 2012, echoing research published last week by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization, which estimated that an annual average of $62 billion was illicitly smuggled out of Russia in recent years.

“Russia has a severe problem with illegal flows of money,” said GFI Director Raymond Baker. “It’s gratifying to see that the Governor of the Central Bank acknowledging it.  That’s the first step to curtailing these outflows.”

Central Bank Governor Sergei Ignatyev continued to explain that the majority of these illicit flows “seem to be controlled by one well-organized group of people,” according to Bloomberg News.