FBI and Five Eyes law enforcement agencies adopt the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index and Corporate Tax Haven Index
The International Foreign Bribery Taskforce (IFBT), which is made up of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, has adopted the Tax Justice Network’s tools as a core part of its corruption risk assessment.[1]
This adoption reflects the growing importance of transparent, evidence-based tools in strengthening global efforts to combat corruption and financial secrecy.
The IFBT’s Indicators of Foreign Bribery recommend using both the Financial Secrecy Index and the Corporate Tax Haven Index in evaluating country links. [2]
The Financial Secrecy Index, published by the Tax Justice Network since 2009, evaluates jurisdictions’ laws and regulatory standards across a broad range of financial transparency and cooperation measures. The Corporate Tax Haven Index, published by the Tax Justice Network since 2019, carries out a similar analysis focused on the risks of each jurisdiction facilitating corporate tax abuse.[3]
The IFBT state:
“The IFBT is publishing this document to enable persons working in high-risk sectors, as well as the broader public, to recognise possible instances of foreign bribery and report these concerns accordingly. […] Taken in isolation, the indicators do not automatically equate to criminal activity. Instead, they highlight factors which, when considered in combination and within context, raise the risk profile suggesting further evaluation or assessment is warranted” (p.2).
Moran Harari, index lead at the Tax Justice Network, said:
“We are delighted to see the Tax Justice Network’s tools are being adopted and recommended by leading law enforcement agencies. Both the Financial Secrecy Index and the Corporate Tax Haven Index are designed so that their sources, analysis and scoring methods are transparent and objectively verifiable. This makes them robust tools for rigorous analysis of geographic risks relating to financial crime.”
The IFBT set specific thresholds for each index, above which links to a jurisdiction are considered a higher risk factor.
For the Financial Secrecy Index, the IFBT apply a threshold to jurisdictions with a secrecy score above 75 out of 100. This threshold identifies 15 jurisdictions, including US and UK-linked territories such as Puerto Rico and Turks and Caicos, as well as larger financial centres such as Panama and the United Arab Emirates.
For the Corporate Tax Haven Index, the IFBT apply a threshold to jurisdictions with a haven score above 70 out of 100. This threshold identifies 24 jurisdictions, including EU member states such as Cyprus, Ireland, the Netherlands, Latvia and Malta; major financial centres including Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates; and British dependencies including Jersey and the Cayman Islands.
Markus Meinzer, associate director of policy at the Tax Justice Network, said:
“We welcome the IFBT’s recommendation. This marks significant recognition of jurisdiction-level risks in combating financial crime. By July 2027, the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulation will require the private sector to assess geographic risks related to financial secrecy. We are seeing growing numbers of financial institutions and other regulated entities adopt the Financial Secrecy Index to strengthen their risk assessments in line with the new regulation.” [4]
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Notes to editor
- The International Foreign Bribery Taskforce is made up of the Australian Federal Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, New Zealand Police, New Zealand Serious Fraud Office, United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office, National Crime Agency (UK) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (United States).The use of the Financial Secrecy Index as a risk assessment tool for corruption has been explored in greater detail in a recent blog here.
- The IFBT’s Indicators of Foreign Bribery is published here.
- More information about the Financial Secrecy Index can be found here. More information about the Corporate Tax Haven Index can be found here.
- Full access to Tax Justice Network data is available via our data portal. The new requirements under the EU Anti Money Laundering Regulation (EU 2024/1624) and a related risk assessment model which is based on the financial secrecy scores are described in greater detail here.