Twice as much wealth is hidden offshore today as all the Dollars and Euros in circulation
When wealth is hidden offshore, it’s hidden from the rule of the law. This is fuelling tax abuse and crime, and undermining our human rights and democracies.
Which countries are most responsible for financial secrecy and what can we do about them? That’s what the Financial Secrecy Index is designed to answer.
Most people think of tax havens as small, palm-fringed islands. But the Financial Secrecy Index shows that the most harmful secrecy enablers are some of the world’s biggest economies and their dependent territories. In fact, all countries enable financial secrecy to some degree, so all countries have a responsibility to strengthen their laws against it and can benefit from the Financial Secrecy Index.
The how
Index methodology
We regularly update the Financial Secrecy Index’s methodology to address the evolving nature of global financial secrecy practices, similar to how a firewall is regularly updated to protect against newly exposed vulnerabilities.
How the index ranks countries
The Financial Secrecy Index thoroughly evaluates jurisdictions laws, and monitors the volume of financial services jurisdictions provide to other countries’ residents, to create a clear picture of the world’s biggest enablers of global financial secrecy.
Secrecy Score
Measures how much room for financial secrecy the jurisdiction’s laws and regulations provide, whether intentionally or not. Scores range from 0 (no room for financial secrecy) to 100 (unlimited room for financial secrecy). Evaluated against more than 100 questions which are organised into 20 indicators.
High score = the jurisdiction’s laws allow a lot of room for financial secrecy
Low score = the jurisdiction’s laws allow little room for financial secrecy
Global Scale Weight
Measures how much in financial services a jurisdiction provides to other countries’ residents. Presented as a percentage of all offshore financial services provided globally. Based on IMF data.
The jurisdiction provides 1.2% of global offshore financial services
Financial Secrecy Index Value (FSI Value)
Combines Secrecy Score and Global Scale Weight to determine how big of a role the jurisdiction plays in enabling financial secrecy globally. Jurisdictions are ranked on the index based on this value.
High value = a big enabler of financial secrecy
Low value = a low enabler of financial secrecy
Financial Secrecy Index Share (FSI Share)
Measures how much of all the financial secrecy enabled around the world, the jurisdiction is responsible for enabling. Calculated by dividing the jurisdiction’s FSI Value by the sum of all jurisdictions’ FSI Values.
Enables 1.6% of global financial secrecy
Rolling updates
How we update our data
We update the Financial Secrecy Index on a rolling basis. We evaluate countries’ laws and regulations against more than 100 questions, which we organise into 20 indicators.
We update a few indicators at a time, every few months, making our way through all the indicators in batches over the course of our update cycle. Any regulatory changes brought to our attention pertaining to indicators that are not queued for the next update in our cycle are published ahead of cycle together with the next update. These changes are published as “supplementary updates” alongside our queued “indicator updates”. This flexibility allows us to capture change on the Financial Secrecy Index without having to wait for our update cycle to reach the affected indicator.
We regularly update the Financial Secrecy Index on a rolling basis. We evaluate countries’ laws and regulations against more than 100 questions, which we organise into 20 indicators.
Countries’ Secrecy Scores – which are based on the 20 indicators – are updated every time we publish indicator and supplementary updates.
Alongside the indicators, we update countries’ Global Scale Weights once a year, which are calculated into countries’ rankings.
Prior to 2025, the Financial Secrecy Index was updated once every two years. All the indicators were updated together at the same time as part of each biennial update to the index. The new rolling basis allows us to capture changes more closely to when they occur and to offer a more dynamic view of countries’ roles in global financial secrecy.
We share our evaluations with every country on the Financial Secrecy Index, giving every country opportunities to check our assessments and query any discrepancies. If a country provides sufficient evidence to alter an evaluation we made, we update our evaluation to reflect the evidence.
Index Citations
Data in action
The Financial Secrecy Index is used by governments, international bodies, journalists, academics and campaigners to better understand and tackle global financial secrecy.
Referenced in a report commissioned by the Human Right Council on the impact of fiscal policy on human rights.
The US Senate Committee on the Judiciary announced ambitions in 2019 to improve its ranking on the Financial Secrecy Index.
The responsible investment network Moody’s ESG Solutions Group (formerly Vigeo Eiris) has included the Financial Secrecy Index in its Country Sustainability Ratings.
Referenced in a study by Argentina's Anti-Corruption Bureau (Oficina Anticorrupción) on tax havens and their impact on Argentina.
Used in Tax Justice Network collaboration with Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service studying the relative importance of different profit shifting channels.
The Italian Central Bank used the Financial Secrecy Index for research into the determinants of financial flows to tax havens.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York used the Financial Secrecy Index's indicators to distinguish locations that have low taxes or weak transparency/high secrecy.
The French Parliament and Senate has referenced the Financial Secrecy Index multiple times, for the Senate in its report by the investigative commission on capital and tax flight
