Financial Conduct Authority will act on 'Panama papers' tax havens details

Britain's financial watchdog will take action over details leaked in the so-called Panama Papers about the use of tax havens by the world's wealthy elite.

The Financial Conduct Authority has said it would work with other agencies to assess the allegations and has written to about 20 regulated companies over details revealed so far, after a data leak which implicated a number of well-known international figures in tax avoidance, including Prime Minister David Cameron's late father. 

Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped down yesterday after being named in one of millions of documents hacked from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that allegedly helped elected leaders and top officials set up secret shell companies and offshore accounts.

In a statement to CNN, Mossack Fonseca said: "Nothing we've seen in this illegally obtained cache of documents suggests we've done anything illegal, and that's very much in keeping with the global reputation we've built over the past 40 years of doing business the right way."

At an appearance at an EU referendum event yesterday David Cameron responded to calls from Jeremy Corbyn to publish his tax return, something the Prime Minister had agreed to do last year.

"I own no shares, I have a salary as Prime Minister and I have some savings which I get some interest from and we have a house which we used to live in and which we now let out while we're living in Downing Street, and that's all I have. I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that," he said.

The Financial Conduct Authority had already committed to crack down on the use of tax havens in its business plan for the year.