The Latest: Germany mulls national 'transparency register'

A building window cleaner works on a building in Panama City's Banking area, Monday, April 4, 2016. Panama's president says his government will cooperate "vigorously" with any judicial investigation arising from the leak of a vast trove of information on the offshore financial dealings of the world's rich and famous. An international coalition of media outlets Sunday published investigations it said stemmed from the leak of 115 million records kept by the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca on behalf of clients. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco) (The Associated Press)

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A man walks past the nationalistic tabloid Global Times' editorial on "Panama reports" displayed on a newspaper board in Beijing, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced as “groundless” reports based on documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm that name relatives of current and retired Chinese politicians, including President Xi Jinping, as owning offshore companies. The Global Times' editorial said an unidentified "powerful force" was behind the document leak. It said the main targets were opponents of the West, especially Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (The Associated Press)

A potted plant is placed at the entrance of the regional head office of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the world's biggest creators of shell companies, in Hong Kong, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. China's Internet censors and state media outlets squelched reports Tuesday on hidden wealth drawn from documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm that name relatives of current and retired Chinese politicians, including President Xi Jinping. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) (The Associated Press)

BERLIN – The Latest on the publication by a coalition of media outlets of an investigation into offshore financial dealings by the rich and famous (all times local):

11:50 a.m.

Germany's justice minister is proposing setting up a national "transparency register" that would list the real beneficiaries of letter-box companies — but only those set up in the country itself.

Heiko Maas' proposal Tuesday to expand national money-laundering legislation followed a massive leak of documents from a Panama-based law firm. German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported Tuesday that 28 German banks used the company's services to set up or administer over 1,200 shell companies.

Maas conceded that German legislation could only apply to companies set up in Germany, which has pushed for tax havens to open up. He said: "Those who are pushing for this at the international level have to have corresponding national rules themselves."

Maas added: "I can imagine many countries considering this."