The governments of Bahrain and the US have signed an agreement to improve international tax compliance and implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca).

The agreement was signed by Bahrain's Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, and US Ambassador to Bahrain William Roebuck, said a Bahrain News Agency report.

The signing aims to ensure the compliance of Bahrain financial institutions with Fatca, and reflects the keenness of the government to provide all necessary requirements in this respect. It comes within the strong co-operation between the two parties with regard to enforcing tax compliance, and on the financial and economic levels as a whole.

The agreement applies to US citizens only and will be submitted to the legislative authority for approval according to standard procedures.

The US has signed similar agreements with several countries to ensure the implementation of Fatca, which was issued in 2010 as a mechanism to combat tax evasion, through the reporting of non-American financial institutions to the US Treasury of information on the identities and accounts of their US clients, it said.