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Banks that have been bailed out by the Government must be forced to reveal their tax haven activities, the TUC has claimed.
The trade union body has also called on ministers to make public the tax haven dealings of financial institutions that are receiving assistance from the Bank of England.
The demands follow a TUC analysis of company reports and returns, which shows that the UK’s major banks – Lloyds TSB, RBS, HSBC and Barclays – have in total 1,207 subsidiary companies incorporated in tax havens.
HBOS is not included in the study because it has not as yet published, in either its annual reports or its Companies House returns, lists of its subsidiary companies for 2006, 2007 and 2008.
According to the TUC figures, the most popular tax haven location is the Cayman Islands, with 262 companies. Jersey is second, with 170 companies.
Not every subsidiary located in a tax haven or financial secrecy jurisdiction will necessarily be used for tax avoidance, says the TUC analysis, which was carried out on behalf of the organisation by tax expert Richard Murphy.
Some may be simply providing banking services to the local population and business community of countries such as Ireland - or have particular commercial links to countries such as HSBC's ties to Hong Kong.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber criticised banks ‘who come cap in hand to the taxpayer and Bank of England’ for continuing to do business in tax havens.
‘This raises questions about whether part of the objective is avoiding paying a fair rate of tax to the UK,’ he said.
‘There is no suggestion that anyone has broken any tax laws, but now banks have public stakes or trade with the knowledge that the taxpayer stands ready to bail them out, the [public] has a right to know the full extent of bank activities and liabilities across the world.’
