190,000 EU Citizens agree with Bowles: it's time for banks to 'Own Up, Pay Up!'

Sharon Bowles MEP has today thanked the nearly 200,000 European citizens, who have signed a petition urging EU finance ministers to agree to greater transparency in global banking - known as country-by-country reporting.

The petition's signatures were collected in just 48 hours, and this latest petition comes alongside Sharon own highly successful 'Own Up, Pay Up' campaign which began last year.

The aim of both campaigns is to force banks to reveal how much tax they pay, their turnover and how much profit they make in each country in which they operate. Today marks potentially the final discussions on the Capital Requirements Directive; the EU legislation which would enforce this greater transparency as well as implement Basel III bank capital rules.

Sharon Bowles MEP said:

"This petition, signed by over 190,000 EU citizens - including myself - demonstrates that tax payers can no longer accept un-transparent accounting practices by global banks."

"Banks play such a central role in our society and in funding our economy. Country-by country reporting for these institutions would therefore be a symbolic disclosure that would set the path towards greater transparency in other sectors currently under discussion."

"What we are asking for is actually quite modest. If finance ministers can't sign up to it, then one has to ask why not. Is it because there is something to hide? In which case there is even more reason for disclosure."

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