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The Economist.

From The Economist in London, this is Money Talks, a weekly program about news in the worlds of business, finance and economics.

I'm Edward McBride, the finance editor.

Until this weekend, few had heard of Mossack Fonseca, a law firm based in Panama, but the leak of a trove of documents relating

to offshore companies it had helped set up for customers from all over the world has made it an overnight

celebrity. Among Mossack Fonseca's clients were friends or relatives of

she Jing Ping China's president and Vladimir Putin the president of Russia among

other public figures. The law firm says it has not been involved in anything untoward, but officials in several countries including America and Britain

say they are examining the leaked papers, presumably in search of evidence of tax evasion or other financial crimes.

Here with me to discuss the so-called Panama Papers are Matthew Valencia, our investigative editor, and Philip Kogan are Buttonwood Columnist. Matthew, let's start with you.

This is being called the biggest financial leak in history by some. Is it that big a deal?

It is. We've had several leaks over the years since the onset of the financial crisis and people starting to care more about tax evasion,

tax avoidance, money laundering and the like.

There was a large leak a year or two ago involving Luxembourg, there was another one involving Switzerland clients of banks in

Geneva, but they really pale in comparison to this one.

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