European banks book €20bn a year in tax havens

The research group EU Tax Observatory reported on Monday (6 September) that 36 major banks in Europe store around €20bn (on average about 14 percent of their yearly profits) in tax havens each year.

That figure has remained stable since 2014, the start of the period under study.

However, there is a large discrepancy between the banks. HSBC, the largest bank, reports 58 percent of all its profits in a tax haven, while Swedbank is not active in tax havens at all.

Other major ...