Finance ministers and central bankers of the G20 group of developed and emerging nations are meeting in Horsham, southern England on 13 and 14 March to prepare the ground for the London Summit on 2 April. Ahead of their meeting, there have been substantial developments on two of the issues under discussion: greater transparency to reduce tax evasion and stronger international banking regulation.

The Swiss government joined other offshore financial centres in signing up for closer tax cooperation and greater exchange of information with other countries, in a statement issued on Friday. Pressure has been growing among G20 countries for action to crack down on tax evasion, with several countries putting forward proposals to tackle so-called tax havens, including extending the list of 'non-compliant tax jurisdictions'. Switzerland joined Hong Kong, Singapore, Andorra and Liechtenstein in signing up for standards set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 

Welcoming the announcement, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who will be chairing the London Summit, welcomed the announcement, saying: 'For many years we have been pressing countries to exchange tax information and end the tax avoidance and evasion that happens through banking secrecy. We can make today's announcement a very real step on the road towards the exchange of tax information between all countries, the beginning of the end of tax havens.

'Tax evasion, which costs the global economy billions of pounds each year, will become much more difficult in the future. The G20 Summit in London next month is an opportunity for global agreement on the further actions we need to take to clean up the global financial system.'

The Swiss announcement came the day after the Financial Stability Forum decided to invite G20 countries that were not currently members to join and published proposals to strengthen international banking regulation. The FSF, which was meeting in London on Wednesday and Thursday, was created by the Group of Seven leading developed economies in 1999 to promote better information exchange and international cooperation. It said the broadening of its membership - which many of the G20 non-members have been campaigning for - would improve its ability to contribute to further reforms of the international financial system.

Also agreed at the FSF meeting were proposals to be recommended to this weekend's financial ministers' meeting to strengthen international banking regulation. The aim would be to ensure banks held more capital in good times and paid staff in ways that encouraged prudent risk-taking. Principles for improving cross-border cooperation during crises were also agreed.

Meanwhile, World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned that the world economic crisis would be deeper and longer if government stimulus packages were too modest and states failed to take joint action to fix their banks. Warning that 2009 would be a 'very dangerous year', he said: 'The danger now is doing too little, too late … Incrementalism will prolong and increase risk. If you don't take on the banking issue, the stimulus is just like a sugar high. It pushes some energy into the system but then you get the letdown unless you reopen the credit markets.'