UK to resist full disclosure despite Panama Papers furore

UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne is bracing for a row with France and other European countries as he resists moves to make the ownership of trusts and foundations fully transparent, according to officials involved in Group of 20 talks in Washington.

France, working closely with Italy, Germany, and Spain, wants G20 nations to make it impossible for people to hide behind trusts or foundations to avoid paying tax or reporting assets.

Britain — which also resisted such a move in 2013 — is continuing to oppose full disclosure. A clash would come at a particularly politically sensitive time for UK prime minister David Cameron, who has been forced to justify his family’s tax affairs to parliament and the press after leaked documents showed his father based his fund offshore.