Over 200,000 signatures on EU petition calling for more bank transparency

The Guardian reports that an EU petition asking that banks provide more transparency collected over 200,000 signatures.

The petitions specifically called for banks to disclose both what they made and the taxes they paid on a country by country basis.

And why is this necessary?  Avaaz, the lobby group leading the campaign, sees transparency as necessary to "tame bank trickery".

A point that your humble blogger has been making since before the beginning of the financial crisis.

More than 200,000 people have signed a petition calling on European Union finance ministers to force banks to reveal how much they tax they pay and the profits they generate in individual countries. 

The lobby group Avaaz is leading the campaign and called on the finance ministers to force banks to "tame bank trickery". 

Banks are currently only obliged to disclose how much tax they pay in total, rather than how much tax they pay in the individual countries in which they operate. 

Sharon Bowles, a British member of the European parliament, said: "This petition, signed by over 190,000 EU citizens – including myself – demonstrates that taxpayers can no longer accept untransparent accounting practices by global banks." 

I agree with Sharon Bowles that taxpayers can no longer accept opaque accounting practices.  That is why I have been championing requiring the banks to provide ultra transparency and disclose on an ongoing basis their current global asset, liability and off-balance sheet exposure details.