Under continuing international spotlight following the Paradise Papers, the Isle of Man today received a ringing endorsement from the OECD that should go some way to answering our critics.

We have retained the top ’compliant’ rating by the global body reviewing tax transparency - one of only six countries worldwide.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published its latest ratings at noon today following the start of its second round of reviews.

We are one of only six countries to be awarded the top compliant rating during the second round of reviews and is currently one of only three to have been rated compliant in the first and second rounds of reviews.

Jersey, Ireland, Italy, Mauritius and Norway are the others that have been deemed fully compliant at second review.

In contrast, Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Germany, India, Qatar, have been rated 'largely compliant' at second review.

The UK and US are also among scores of countries deemed 'largely compliant' based on a first round of reviews.

The rating is based on a peer review assessment carried out by a team of experts on behalf of the OECD’s Global Forum, which involves 147 jurisdictions including the Isle of Man.

Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan MHK welcomed the move.

He said: ’I am delighted that the Isle of Man’s high levels of international cooperation have been recognised in this way. It has become much harder to reach the standard required to achieve a top rating as the bar has been raised for this second round of reviews.’

The OECD report makes a number of recommendations.

Implementation of the new Beneficial Ownership Bill should be monitored, and its requirements should be extended to cover all partnerships rather than just limited partnerships.

The island is also recommended to ensure that where foreign companies are resident here for tax purposes, rules should be in place to make legal ownership information available.

The OECD ratings can be found at http://www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/exchange-of-information-on-request/ratings/