Saint-Amans, who will replace Owens on his retirement on 1 February 2012, joined the OECD in September 2007 as head of the international cooperation and tax competition division in the CTPA. He was responsible for the OECD’s work on tax practices, money laundering and tax crimes, the tax aspects of countering bribery of foreign officials and administrative cooperation between tax authorities.
The OECD said he Saint-Amans played a key role in the advancement of the OECD tax transparency agenda in the context of the G20. In October 2009 he was appointed head of the global forum division, created to service the global forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.