Panama Has Company as Bank-Secrecy Holdout, as U.S. Offers Haven
- U.S., Panama among few nations shunning OECD transparency plan
- Focus on havens comes as 100 countries sign disclosure deal
Panama Papers Put Global Elites' Wealth in Spotlight
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Panama and the U.S. have at least one thing in common: Neither has agreed to new international standards to make it harder for tax evaders and money launderers to hide their money.
Over the past several years, amid increased scrutiny by journalists, regulators and law enforcers, the global tax-haven landscape has shifted. In an effort to catch tax dodgers, almost 100 countries and other jurisdictions have agreed since 2014 to impose new disclosure requirements for bank accounts, trusts and some other investments held by international customers -- standards issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a government-funded international policy group.