Barclays in transparency ratings blow Barclays is among the least transparent companies in terms of its corporate reporting, according to a ranking of the world's largest publicly traded companies. Barclays is 71st out of the 105 companies listed by Transparency International, a non-governmental organisation that scored companies by how clearly they reported their corporate structures and their anti-corruption programmes. The ranking suggests that the bank is more opaque than PetroChina, and is as transparent as Saudi Basic Industries, according to the study. HSBC was sixth in the rankings. The report is another blow to Barclays, which is suffering from the fallout of a rate-rigging scandal that has claimed its chief executive and chief operating officer. The bank paid £290m a fortnight ago to settle investigations by US and UK regulators into whether it attempted to manipulate Libor. Barclays co-operated with the investigations. Barclays was also under fire from politicians for its tax planning, which helped the bank avoid £500m in taxes until the UK's HM Revenue & Customs moved to shut down two schemes this year. "Companies continue to publish too little information about their commitments to comprehensive anti-corruption systems and their sprawling operations," Transparency International wrote in its report, the first since 2009. While even good reporting cannot ensure good company behaviour, it is an indication of commitment, awareness and action. It also enables wrongdoing or misinformation to be more readily uncovered. It recommended that the EU should force companies to disclose all their subsidiaries, affiliates and joint ventures, and require financial reporting on a country-by-country basis. Barclays did not immediately return a request to comment. Goldman Sachs is in 87th place in the list while Commonwealth Bank of Australia is in 93rd. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is the west's lowest-ranking group, at 101st. Two Chinese banks, Bank of Communications and Bank of China, score the worst of the world's biggest companies. Financial institutions make up the largest proportion of the 105 companies surveyed. The report found that, as a group, their performance was below average despite continued political pressure to improve their transparency. Energy and natural resources companies scored well. Norway's Statoil topped the chart, with Transparency International praising its efforts to publish its taxes and profits across the 37 countries in which it operates. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were second and third respectively.