Iniciativa para la Transparencia Financiera (Initiative for Financial Transparency, ITF) is a project aimed to contribute to the democratization of the discussion about financial and macroeconomic issues, which are typically confined to a reduced group of experts that employ a heavily technical language. ITF is led by Mario Damill, Roberto Frenkel and Martín Rapetti, all research economists from the Center for the Study of State and Society (CEDES, Buenos Aires).

ITF carries out several activities including the production and difussion of written and accesible material, courses, seminars and conferences. These activities seek to reach a broad audience, including those like journalists, lawmakers, political and civil society leaders, public officials and NGOs, who are interested in broadening their knowledge on financial issues. 

The increasing degree of financial globalization, the complexity of the financial systems and particularly the financial crisis triggered in 2007 have put these issues on the frontline of public policy. Nevertheless, they remain far from the reach of not only the layman but also people interested and working in public policy. One of the reasons of this gap is tendency to leave the responsibility of making decisions about financial regulation in the hands of technical agencies relatively independent from the democratic process. These agencies are typically controlled and supervised by entities of democratic representation –like the Congress- but the mechanisms of control and supervision end up being a formality if the public lacks a minimum knowledge of the issues at stake.

The topics covered by ITF include the regulation of cross-border capital movements, foreign exchange market interventions, monetary policy, central bank independence, banking regulation and the role of public and development banks among others. ITF is supported by a generous grant by the Ford Foundation.