Offshore finance centres 'more transparent than UK'

New global rules forcing companies to report taxable activities country-by-country publicly have been called for by a group of 300 prominent economists, in a push to close down tax havens.

James Quarmby, a tax lawyer at the international law firm Stephenson Harwood, told the Today programme that offshore finance centres provide neutral territory for global trade deals.

There is more money laundering going on in New York, Frankfurt and London than offshore, he argued.