Early impacts of public beneficial ownership registers: Slovakia
Introduction
The momentum for beneficial ownership transparency has increased enormously in recent years. A growing body of research makes the case for public registers as benefitting citizens, economies and governments. Increasing numbers of corporate leaders are championing beneficial ownership transparency as a tool to enable better risk management. Globally, over 90 countries have committed to beneficial ownership transparency in some form.
For the majority of governments, the opportunity ahead is to build on national demand to establish beneficial ownership transparency as an accepted and routine aspect of corporate activity in the 21st century. OpenOwnership assists governments in implementing beneficial ownership transparency. Slovakia was among the first countries in the world to implement a public beneficial ownership register and is a member of the Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group. Slovakian public beneficial ownership data was used to expose alleged cases of wrongdoing. Reaching this point required the Slovakian government to overcome challenges in that process, with practical lessons for other states implementing beneficial ownership transparency.
Register of Public Sector Partners
| Established | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Scope | Private entities that provide goods and services to the public sector, or acquire assets or receive qualified financial contributions from the public sector |
| Beneficial owners registered | 78,608 |
| Companies registered | 28,358 |
| Data on the global register | Yes |
As of June 2020. Accessible via: https://rpvs.gov.sk/rpvs
"For a long time anonymous companies were seen as an elite problem that didn’t affect people. Now the practices of companies are becoming more open, the system is working, culture is changing." - Zuzana Wienk, Open Government Partnership Slovakia & Co-Founder of Fair Play Alliance, 2019