The UN High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (FACTI Panel) has issued its final report, building on previous efforts to stop and recover illicit financial flows. The Panel asks governments to agree to a global pact on directing the newly generated funds towards the SDGs. 

The President of the 74th UN General Assembly (2019-2020), Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, and the President of the 2020 session of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Mona Juul, launched the FACTI panel in early 2020. The panel is co-chaired by Dalia Grybauskaitė, former President of Lithuania, and Ibrahim Miyaki, former Prime Minister of Niger. The panel issued the report on 25 February 2021 after a year-long process.

States can rebuild trust by using resources to benefit the people and places from which they were generated.

The report presents a blueprint for a system of financial integrity for sustainable development – which the authors describe as a double win by both creating financial integrity and using the resources generated to finance the SDGs.

The report finds that:

• Up to 2.7% of global GDP is laundered annually;
• One tenth of the world’s wealth could be hidden in offshore financial assets, preventing governments from collecting their fair share of taxes;
• Transparency in public procurement has weakened during COVID-19; and
• Stronger laws and institutions are needed to prevent corruption and money laundering.

In a foreword to the report, the co-chairs suggest that as resources are used to benefit the people and places from which they were generated – “instead of disappearing in an offshore maze” – States can better fulfill their obligations and rebuild trust. Strengthened integrity for global finance will enable countries to “better deliver peace and prosperity for people and the planet.”

To achieve this, the report calls for: greater transparency regarding the ownership of private companies; stronger international cooperation to prosecute bribery; an international minimum corporate tax; taxing automated digital services; global governance of tax abuse and money-laundering. Overall, the 14 recommendations address: values (accountability, legitimacy, transparency, fairness); policies (enablers, civil society/media, information sharing, dynamism, and capacity building); and institutions (data collection and publication, implementation review, national governance, global governance).

The global governance recommendation suggests establishing a global coordination mechanism at ECOSOC for systemically addressing financial integrity and creating an inclusive UN intergovernmental body on tax matters, among other steps.

The recommendations are expected to be discussed during the 2021 session of the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development (FfD Forum). [FACTI Panel press release] [Executive Summary] [Publication: Financial Integrity for Sustainable Development: Report of the High Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda]