It’s no secret - the Isle of Man is getting better at financial transparency.

We are ranked 42nd out of 112 jurisdictions in the latest financial secrecy index produced by the Tax Justice Network.

That places well below the UK, ranked 23rd, Jersey at 18 and Guernsey in 10th position.

Switzerland is top of the new list, with the United States at number 2.

The last financial secrecy index, in 2015, ranked the Isle of Man 32nd out of 92 jurisdictions. Our overall secrecy score is down from 63.8% three years ago to 63.58% this time round.

And during that time our share in the global market for offshore financial services has grown from less than 0.1% in 2015, when the Tax Justice Network described our contribution as ’tiny’, to less than 1% now, making us a ’small’ player.

The Network said it has substantially increased the number of key financial secrecy indicators for its latest index, from 15 to 20.

It notes: ’In particular, our analysis on the registration and publication of beneficial ownership of companies, trusts, foundations and partnerships has been deepened, taking on board the lessons learned through various leaks, and chiefly among them, the Panama Papers.’

The island’s secrecy score of 64 per cent has been calculated as the average score of the 20 key financial secrecy indicators.

We’ve not achieved full compliance on any of the indicators but have secured good scores at automatic informations exchange, anti-money laundering, bilateral treaties and international legal co-operation.

But the Tax Justice Network ranks the Isle of Man as ’extremely secretive’ when it comes to public company ownership and accounts, country-by-country reporting and having a register of trusts and foundations.

The financial secrecy index is part-funded by the European Union.

In December the island was named in an EU grey list of jurisdictions deemed not to be fully compliant with European and international tax standards that have given a commitment to make changes.

Euro finance ministers blacklisted 17 jurisdictions, none of them EU members states, that face possible sanctions. The island has been given a year to comply with tax good governance - or face being placed on the blacklist.

The OECD rated us fully compliant for tax transparency, making us one of only three countries to be given the top rating in two rounds of reviews.