To get itself off a list of countries facing sanctions from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Panama will sign accords with as many as 10 other countries to share tax and bank account information.
Panama Finance Vice-Minister Frank De Lima said Panama is close to signing accords with Spain and Mexico to exchange information, and that Switzerland, Belgium and Canada are also interested in signing treaties.
De Lima said the move “should be enough to avoid sanctions.”
Last April, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development put Panama on a list of nations that must share tax data or face sanctions as the United States and other Group of 20 nations crack down on banking secrecy.
Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Luxembourg are among countries that have agreed to provide more information on their tax systems to satisfy OECD standards.
The OECD maintains that its activities are an effort to eliminate tax evasion. But many experts see the OECD move, along with little-known provisions of U.S. law and recent actions against Swiss banks, as an all-out assault on financial privacy across the globe.
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