US to work to bring transparency in financial system: John Kerry

Amid reports that $800 billion worth of foreign wealth is estimated to be hidden in the US, Secretary of State, John Kerry, today said that the country is prepared to take steps to prevent unauthorised parking of foreign money in America.

"We will be part of the solution, I assure you. I guarantee you that the United States is going to be at the forefront of making sure there is accountability because we believe the theft of these vast sums of money from many nations in the world is part of what contributes to radicalism, to extremism, to terrorism," Kerry said.

He was responding to questions in an interview on CNN over reports - in the aftermath of the leak of the Panama Papers - that the US is growing as a massive offshore haven for a lot of foreign wealth that wants to be hidden, anywhere from South Dakota to Las Vegas.

The Financial Times in a report recently estimated that $800 billion worth of foreign wealth is hidden in the US.

"We're taking steps with respect to specific states, where we think there's been a problem and people trying to bring their wealth in, buying real estate and using the real estate as a hedge against what's ever happening elsewhere," he said.

Parking of unauthorised money in the US, Kerry observed breeds an incestuous disrespect within a country for the political system and it hurts everybody by robbing people from their health care, housing, education, infrastructure, and their investment for the future.