Beneficial ownership in British Overseas Territories - 4 May 2018

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Hi there,

On Tuesday we received some excellent news.

The UK government agreed to require British Overseas Territories to introduce public registers of beneficial ownership. That means that companies based in places like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos and the British Virgin Islands will soon have to reveal the identity of the people who own or control them.

The British Overseas Territories have long been a destination of choice for money-launderers and others seeking to move or hide their wealth offshore.

More than half of the offshore companies referred to in the Panama Papers were set up in the British Virgin Islands. Now, it won’t take leaks like those to bring important financial information from these territories to light.

As we highlighted in our report last month, now it is up to the other G20 countries to step up their efforts. If governments in other secrecy jurisdictions don’t act, they might soon find themselves at risk of being used as a refuge for corrupt cash and ill-gotten gains.

They wouldn’t want that, would they?

 

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Corruption in the news this week

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A new British law could have big ripple effects as part of a global trend toward financial transparency. Disclosure of who really owns offshore companies can counter crime and reduce the inequality that arises from corruption or tax evasion.

 
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HuffPost (2 May)
 

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