(VOVworld) – US President Barack Obama is launching a crackdown on international tax evasion in response to recent disclosures in the Panama Papers revealing the scale of offshore financial activity.

US President Barack Obama said: ‘There is no doubt that the problem of global tax avoidance generally is a huge problem” (Photo: UPI / Barcroft Images)

In a series of initiatives announced by the White House on Thursday night, the president will take executive action to close loopholes used by foreigners in the US and call on Congress to pass legislation asking banks, and financial institutions to identify and keep records and information about real private accounts. The White House said the disclosures in the Panama Papers showed the urgency of strict measures to prevent tax evasion and money laundering. Washington committed to cooperate with international partners to address the shared challenge. The US authorities said the new measures would focus largely on increasing transparency regulations as a tool to flush further offshore tax abuses into the open.