Initial compliance ratings following peer reviews on the effectiveness in practice of automatic exchange of information

The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (AEOI) was developed by the OECD in 2014 in response to the G20 request. All Global Forum members were asked to commit to exchange information under AEOI Standard by 2017 or 2018, aside from developing countries that do not host a financial centre, given their capacity constraints and lower risk to the level-playing field. More than 120 jurisdictions are now committed to its implementation and the vast majority have commenced exchanges.

The Global Forum has reviewed each jurisdiction’s domestic and international legal frameworks to ensure their completeness and issued determinations. The initial reviews of the effectiveness of each jurisdiction’s implementation of the AEOI Standard have been published in November 2022.

Peer Review of the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information 2022 presents the latest conclusions of the peer reviews of the legal frameworks put in place by each jurisdiction to implement the AEOI standard. The results relate to the more than 100 jurisdictions committed to commence AEOI by 2020. It also contains, for the first time, the results of the Global Forum’s initial peer reviews in relation to the effectiveness in practice of the implementation of the standard for the 99 countries and jurisdictions which had committed to starting AEOI in 2017 or 2018. It shows that virtually all jurisdictions have put in place the necessary legal frameworks and successfully started exchanges, and are exchanging information without significant timing or technical issues.

Two-thirds of the jurisdictions analysed (65) are actively conducting compliance activities to ensure financial institutions are reporting accurate information. These jurisdictions were given “On Track” ratings. A further 15 jurisdictions are found to have put in place credible compliance frameworks. The need for further implementation actions led these jurisdictions to be rated as “Partially Compliant”. Finally, 19 jurisdictions have been found to have fundamental deficiencies in their frameworks. Exchanges are usually taking place each year, but, as these jurisdictions have not yet completed the development of their operational frameworks to verify financial institutions’ compliance, they were rated “Non-Compliant”.

Published in November 2023, Peer Review of the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information 2023 Update presents the latest conclusions of the peer reviews of the legal frameworks put in place by jurisdictions to implement the AEOI standard and two new initial effectiveness reviews.

It supplements and builds upon the assessments of the legal frameworks and the initial reviews of the effectiveness of their implementation in practice published in 2022, for around 100 jurisdictions that were the first to commit to commence AEOI.

The spread of initial ratings on the effectiveness of AEOI in practice, after the latest peer reviews and including various revisions to the 2022 conclusions, is as follows: 64% satisfactory "On Track" ratings (65/101), 16% "Partially Compliant" ratings (16/101) and 20% "Non-compliant" ratings (20/101).

» Find out more about the criteria used for the determinations on the legal frameworks and ratings