Banks may be required to report taxes and profits on a country-by-country basis from 2015 under the terms of a ‘breakthrough’ provisional agreement reached last night between the Irish presidency of the EU and the European parliament.
An overhaul of EU banking rules will ‘make sure that banks in the future have enough capital, both in terms of quality and quantity, to withstand shocks’, said Michael Noonan, Irish minister of finance.
The provisional agreement includes restrictions on bankers’ bonuses ‘to make sure that pay practices do not lead to excessive risk-taking’, and measures to make European banks more transparent.
The package will have to be approved by EU member states. Noonan said he would present it to finance ministers in Brussels next Tuesday, 5 March.
The European parliament secured agreement on country-by-country reporting against expectations, the Financial Times reported.
‘The [European] Commission will examine the data of big banks in 2014 and has the right to recommend a delay to implementation if the transparency is shown to significantly hurt the competitiveness of EU companies,’ it said.
Christian Aid said last night’s agreement was a ‘huge step towards getting companies to pay their taxes’. But new reporting requirements should apply to all industries, it argued.
‘The European parliament’s work on bankers’ bonuses has won lots of attention but its decision to make banks reveal more about their finances will have a far bigger and better impact on people around the world,’ said Joseph Stead, Christian Aid’s senior adviser on economic justice.
An online petition calling on finance ministers to require banks to disclose taxes and profits on a country-by-country basis now has more than 200,000 signatures. Avaaz, the internet campaign organisation, said 150,000 people had signed in less than 20 hours.
Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research UK, has been advocating since 2003 a new international standard requiring country-by-country reporting by all multinationals.
‘A gauntlet has been thrown down,’ Murphy said today. ‘It will be very hard indeed for an EU-wide measure to be deemed anti-competitive.’
The Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign, launched last month and backed by more than 100 organisations, calls on the UK government to introduce country-by-country reporting for all sectors within the G8’s jurisdiction and push for country-by-country as a new global accounting standard.
But the UK government said last month that the case had not been made for the effectiveness of a ‘broad’ country-by-country reporting regime.
Banks may be required to report taxes and profits on a country-by-country basis from 2015 under the terms of a ‘breakthrough’ provisional agreement reached last night between the Irish presidency of the EU and the European parliament.
An overhaul of EU banking rules will ‘make sure that banks in the future have enough capital, both in terms of quality and quantity, to withstand shocks’, said Michael Noonan, Irish minister of finance.
The provisional agreement includes restrictions on bankers’ bonuses ‘to make sure that pay practices do not lead to excessive risk-taking’, and measures to make European banks more transparent.
The package will have to be approved by EU member states. Noonan said he would present it to finance ministers in Brussels next Tuesday, 5 March.
The European parliament secured agreement on country-by-country reporting against expectations, the Financial Times reported.
‘The [European] Commission will examine the data of big banks in 2014 and has the right to recommend a delay to implementation if the transparency is shown to significantly hurt the competitiveness of EU companies,’ it said.
Christian Aid said last night’s agreement was a ‘huge step towards getting companies to pay their taxes’. But new reporting requirements should apply to all industries, it argued.
‘The European parliament’s work on bankers’ bonuses has won lots of attention but its decision to make banks reveal more about their finances will have a far bigger and better impact on people around the world,’ said Joseph Stead, Christian Aid’s senior adviser on economic justice.
An online petition calling on finance ministers to require banks to disclose taxes and profits on a country-by-country basis now has more than 200,000 signatures. Avaaz, the internet campaign organisation, said 150,000 people had signed in less than 20 hours.
Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research UK, has been advocating since 2003 a new international standard requiring country-by-country reporting by all multinationals.
‘A gauntlet has been thrown down,’ Murphy said today. ‘It will be very hard indeed for an EU-wide measure to be deemed anti-competitive.’
The Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign, launched last month and backed by more than 100 organisations, calls on the UK government to introduce country-by-country reporting for all sectors within the G8’s jurisdiction and push for country-by-country as a new global accounting standard.
But the UK government said last month that the case had not been made for the effectiveness of a ‘broad’ country-by-country reporting regime.
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