In April 2009, the G20 Leaders declared that “the era of banking secrecy is over”:
"We have today also issued a Declaration, Strengthening the Financial System. In particular we agree: ... to take action against non-cooperative jurisdictions, including tax havens. We stand ready to deploy sanctions to protect our public finances and financial systems. The era of banking secrecy is over. We note that the OECD has today published a list of countries assessed by the Global Forum against the international standard for exchange of tax information"
The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) was called on to deliver this result. Today, the Global Forum has 172 members and has achieved tremendous progress in implementing the international tax transparency and exchange of information standards. With the strong backing of the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Global Forum has produced the most impactful international project against offshore tax evasion in history.
