Bermuda has signed up to a new international agreement to allow automatic exchange of financial information in a bid to crack down on tax cheats.

Now the Island and 50 other countries will begin the exchange of information, backed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the G20 group of leading economies, from September 2017.

Charles Thresh, a managing director of financial services firm KPMG Advisory, said: “I really don’t think it will make Bermuda a less competitive place. It’s totally a global phenomenon and the OECD gets to say who is on the grey list, the white list and the black list.

“If we are not seen to be cooperating with the wider international community, the consequences are more grave than they are signing up, to be honest.”

Mr Thresh added: “Bermuda is an early adopter — it’s trying to stand up and be a good international citizen and that’s to be applauded and understood.”

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said: “We are making concrete progress toward the G20 objective of winning the fight against tax evasion.

“The fact that so many jurisdictions have agreed to automatically exchange financial account information shows the significant progress that can occur when the international community works together in a focused and ambitious manner.”

The agreement sets out the details of information to be exchanged on an annual basis between signatories and provides for sharing of some account and personal information, in line with the international Common Reporting Standard.

Information exchanges will be subject to confidentiality rules and other safeguards in another convention on tax matters.

Participants will also share information on the beneficial ownership of all legal entities will be made available to tax authorities and exchanged with treaty partners.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes will set up a review process to ensure the effective working of the agreement, while a status report on committed and non-committed jurisdictions will be presented to a meeting of the G20 countries this month.

Developing countries have also been invited to move towards automatic tax information exchange and the Global Forum said it would offer technical assistance and set up pilot programmes for interested countries in the developing world.

The US, however, has not signed the agreement, although the OECD said there was considerable overlap between the agreement and the American Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

And subsidiaries of US companies in countries that have signed up to the agreement will have to comply with the reporting rules of jurisdictions they operate in.

Algirdas Semeta, the EU tax commissioner, said the signing was “an important joint effort by many in creating a fairer, more appropriate tax environment worldwide”.

He added: “The Global Standard, developed by the OECD in cooperation with G20 countries and the European Commission, will facilitate tax authorities’ access to financial account information and boost worldwide efforts to crack down on tax evasion.

“This global agreement shows that many countries around the world are ready to work towards alignment with the Global Standard and recognise automatic exchange of information as the new standard for international cooperation.”

And Mr Semeta said that the treaty “could not have been foreseen” a few years ago and signalled a new global acceptance of the need for tax transparency.

He added: “I am confident that this move will enable countries around the world to better combat tax evasion and improve the efficiency of their tax collection.”

The full list of signatories is as follows: Albania, Anguilla, Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Colombia, Croatia, Curacao, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, South Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Montserrat, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the UK.