Beneficial Ownership Transparency: A Guide for Parliaments

Publication date: 30 September 2024
Authors: Corina Rebegea, Tymon Kiepe

Sources

Armstrong, Kadie and Stephen Abbott Pugh. “Using reliable identifiers for corporate vehicles in beneficial ownership data.” Open Ownership, October 2023. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/using-reliable-identifiers-for-corporate-vehicles-in-beneficial-ownership-data.

Barron, Michael, and Tim Law. “Beneficial Ownership Transparency - Exploring the Private Sector Use Case.” Center for International Private Enterprise, August 30, 2023. https://www.cipe.org/resources/beneficial-ownership-transparency-exploring-the-private-sector-use-case/.

Barry, Angus. “Exploring Patterns of Beneficial Ownership Reform.” Open Ownership, February 8, 2024. https://www.openownership.org/en/blog/exploring-patterns-of-beneficial-ownership-reform.

“Business Ready (B-Ready).” World Bank. Accessed March 19, 2024. https://www.worldbank.org/en/businessready.

Cullen, Austin F. “Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia,” June 3, 2022. https://cullencommission.ca/files/reports/CullenCommission-FinalReport-Full.pdf.

Ime, Favour and Tymon Kiepe. “Guide to drafting effective legislation for beneficial ownership transparency.” Open Ownership, August 2024. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/guide-to-drafting-effective-legislation-for-beneficial-ownership-transparency.

“Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime Position Paper on Beneficial Ownership Transparency.” Open Ownership, August 26, 2021. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/gcffc-beneficial-ownership-transparency-position-paper/.

Hartmann, Till. Beneficial Ownership Registers: Implementation Insights and Emerging Frontiers. Equitable Growth, Finance & Institutions Insight. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1596/41470.

Kaur Chhina, Ramandeep and Tymon Kiepe. “Defining and capturing information on the beneficial ownership of listed companies.” Open Ownership, March 2024. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/defining-and-capturing-information-on-the-beneficial-ownership-of-publicly-listed-companies/.

Kaur Chhina, Ramandeep and Tymon Kiepe. “Designing sanctions and their enforcement for beneficial ownership disclosure.” Open Ownership, April 2022. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/designing-sanctions-and-their-enforcement-for-beneficial-ownership-disclosure/.

Kiepe, Tymon. “Beneficial Ownership Data in Procurement: Beyond Transparency and Accountability.” Open Ownership, March 15, 2021. https://www.openownership.org/en/blog/beneficial-ownership-data-in-procurement-beyond-transparency-and-accountability/.

Kiepe, Tymon, Victor Ponsford, and Louise Russell-Prywata. “Early Impacts of Public Beneficial Ownership Registers: Slovakia.” Open Ownership, October 1, 2020. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/early-impacts-of-public-beneficial-ownership-registers-slovakia/slovakias-innovative-approach/.

Kiepe, Tymon. “Striking a Balance: Towards a More Nuanced Conversation about Access to Beneficial Ownership Information.” Open Ownership, October 18, 2023. https://www.openownership.org/en/blog/striking-a-balance-towards-a-more-nuanced-conversation-about-access-to-beneficial-ownership-information/.

Kiepe, Tymon. “Using Beneficial Ownership Data for National Security.” Open Ownership, December 17, 2021. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/using-beneficial-ownership-data-for-national-security/preventing-interference-governance-systems-rule-law/.

Kofod, Jeppe, and Petr Ježek. “REPORT on the Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion | A8-0357/2017 | European Parliament.” European Parliament, November 16, 2017. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2017-0357_EN.html#_section1.

Koker, Louis de, John Howell, and Nicholas Morris. “Economic Consequences of Greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force.” Risks 11, no. 5 (May 2023): 81. https://doi.org/10.3390/risks11050081.

Maslen, Caitlin. “The Impact of Grey Listing by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).” U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, October 24, 2023. https://www.u4.no/publications/the-impact-of-grey-listing-by-the-financial-action-task-force-fatf.

Markle, Alanna, and Tymon Kiepe. “Who Benefits? How Company Ownership Data Is Used to Detect and Prevent Corruption.” Open Ownership, December 5, 2022. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/who-benefits-how-company-ownership-data-is-used-to-detect-and-prevent-corruption/using-beneficial-ownership-data-to-reduce-corruption/.

Markle, Alanna. “Shining a Light on Company Ownership: The Role of Beneficial Ownership Transparency in the Energy Transition.” Open Ownership, March 31, 2022. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/shining-a-light-on-company-ownership-the-role-of-beneficial-ownership-transparency-in-the-energy-transition/building-transparency-and-accountability-into-the-energy-transition/.

Open Ownership. “Access - Sufficient Information Should Be Accessible to All Data Users without Undue Restrictions.” Open Ownership. Accessed March 19, 2024. https://www.openownership.org/en/principles/access/.

“Open Ownership Map: Worldwide Action on Beneficial Ownership Transparency.” Open Ownership. Accessed March 19, 2024. https://www.openownership.org/en/map/.

Parliament, U.K. “Beneficial Ownership Registers: Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.” U.K. Parliament - Hansard, December 7, 2023. https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-12-07/debates/819C04D6-19A8-4FD6-94B1-CB886A9BD1B5/Benefi.

Parliament of Canada. “Second Report of the Committee - 44th Parliament, 1st Session (November 22, 2021 - Present).” Senate of Canada, June 6, 2022. https://sencanada.ca/en/committees/BANC/Report/103311/44-1.

Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions. “Hearing Entitled: Potential Consequences of FinCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Rulemaking.” Financial Services Committee, July 18, 2023. https://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=408901.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF). “Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons.” FATF, March 2023. https://www.fatf-gafi.org/content/dam/fatf-gafi/guidance/Guidance-Beneficial-Ownership-Legal-Persons.pdf.coredownload.pdf.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF). “Outcomes FATF Plenary, 2-4 March 2022.” FATF, March 2022. https://www.fatf-gafi.org/content/fatf-gafi/en/publications/Fatfgeneral/Outcomes-fatf-plenary-march-2022.html.

UK Public General Acts. “Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.” Legislation.gov.uk, 2015. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/26/contents/enacted.

UK Public General Acts. “The Scottish Partnerships (Register of People with Significant Control) Regulations 2017.” Legislation.gov.uk, 2017. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/694/contents/made.

UK Public General Acts. “Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022.” Legislation.gov.uk, 2022. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/10/contents.

UK Public General Acts. “Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.” legislation.gov.uk, 2023. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/56/enacted.

United Nations: Office on Drugs and Crime. “Resolutions and decisions adopted by the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (Resolution 9/7: Enhancing the Use of Beneficial Ownership Information to Facilitate the Identification, Recovery and Return of Proceeds of Crime).” United Nations: Office on Drugs and Crime, December 2021. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption/COSP/session9-resolutions.html#Res.9-7.

WM and Sovim SA v Luxembourg Business Registers, No. Joined Cases C-37/20 and C-601/20 (European Court of Justice November 22, 2022). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62020CJ0037.

Image of the lock https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-vector/magnifying-glass-opened-padlock-icon-made-2212023579.

Image of North Macedonian Assembly

Image of Argentinian Congress Source - Anibal Trejo on Shutterstock

Image of the National Assembly of Armenia Source - Ruslan Harutyunov on Shutterstock

Checkbox graphic Source - Natcha Rochana on Shutterstock

Use Cases of Beneficial Ownership Transparency

Public contracting

Kiepe, Tymon, and Eva Okunbor. “Beneficial Ownership Data in Procurement.” Open Ownership, March 11, 2021. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/beneficial-ownership-data-in-procurement/.

Corruption

UNODC, Tenth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, https://www.unodc.org/unodc/corruption/COSP/session10.html.

National security

Tax

Mathias, Emmanuel, and Adrian Wardzynski. “Leveraging Anti-Money Laundering Measures to Improve Tax Compliance and Help Mobilize Domestic Revenues.” International Monetary Fund, April 21, 2023. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2023/04/21/Leveraging-Anti-money-Laundering-Measures-to-Improve-Tax-Compliance-and-Help-Mobilize-532652.

Chowla, Peter, and Patricia Ann Brown. “Beneficial Ownership Information: Supporting Fair Taxation and Financial Integrity.” Policy Brief. United Nations, Financing for Sustainable Development Office, January 2023. https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/publication/PB148.pdf.

Extractive sector governance and the energy transition

Robinson, Mark. “Opening Extractives: How Beneficial Ownership Transparency in Extractive Sectors Helps Curb Corruption.” July 20, 2022. https://eiti.org/blog-post/opening-extractives-how-beneficial-ownership-transparency-extractive-sectors-helps-curb.

Rialet, Julie, and Alanna Markle. “Lessons for an Accountable Transition: Leveraging Beneficial Ownership Information for Natural Resource Governance.” Open Ownership and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, June 20, 2024. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/lessons-for-an-accountable-transition-leveraging-beneficial-ownership-information-for-natural-resource-governance/.

Markle, Alanna. “Shining a Light on Company Ownership: The Role of Beneficial Ownership Transparency in the Energy Transition.” Open Ownership and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, March 31, 2022. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/shining-a-light-on-company-ownership-the-role-of-beneficial-ownership-transparency-in-the-energy-transition/.

Fisheries governance

Kiepe, Tymon, and Peter Low. “Using Beneficial Ownership Information in Fisheries Governance.” Open Ownership, April 30, 2024. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/using-beneficial-ownership-information-in-fisheries-governance/.

Well-functioning business environment

"Business Ready: Methodology Handbook". Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group, 2023. p17-20. https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/357a611e3406288528cb1e05b3c7dfda-0540012023/original/B-READY-Methodology-Handbook.pdf.

Lakhani, Sadaf. “The Use of Beneficial Ownership Data by Private Entities.” Open Ownership, March 31, 2022. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/the-use-of-beneficial-ownership-data-by-private-entities/.

State of play

Open Ownership. “Open Ownership Map: Worldwide Action on Beneficial Ownership Transparency.” https://www.openownership.org/en/map/.

Tax Justice Network. “Financial Secrecy Index 2022.” https://fsi.taxjustice.net/.

Global Data Barometer. “Company Information.” https://globaldatabarometer.org/module/company/.

Additional Resources: Implementation Guidance

Ime, Favour and Tymon Kiepe, Guide to drafting effective legislation for beneficial ownership transparency, Open Ownership, August 2024, https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/guide-to-drafting-effective-legislation-for-beneficial-ownership-transparency/.

Open Ownership, Guide to implementing beneficial ownership transparency, expected update late 2024, https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/guide-to-implementing-beneficial-ownership-transparency/.

Open Ownership. “Principles for Effective Beneficial Ownership Disclosure,” January 2023. https://www.openownership.org/en/principles/.

Townsend, Thom. “Effective Consultation Processes for Beneficial Ownership Transparency Reform.” Open Ownership, June 20, 2020. https://www.openownership.org/en/publications/effective-consultation-processes-for-beneficial-ownership-transparency-reform/.

“Guidance on Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons.” Paris: Financial Action Task Force, March 2023. https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/publications/Fatfrecommendations/Guidance-Beneficial-Ownership-Legal-Persons.html.

Garde, María José, Zayda Manatta, Pineda Emilio, and Roberto De Michele. “Building Effective Beneficial Ownership Frameworks - A Joint Global Forum and IDB Toolkit.” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Inter-American Development Bank, May 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0004263.

The Problem

Does de Willebois, Emile van der, Emily M. Halter, Robert A. Harrison, Ji Won Park, and J. C. Sharman. The Puppet Masters How the Corrupt Use Legal Structures to Hide Stolen Assets and What to Do About It. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/e80259c9-d3ca-5d16-adef-fec02a3989dd/content.

Case studies

Open Ownership, Case studies, https://www.openownership.org/en/publication-categories/case-studies/.

Contents