Building Back Better: The Role of Beneficial Ownership Transparency During a Crisis

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In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as countries across the world make slow progress towards longer term recovery and reform, massive amounts of money are being committed through aid and stimulus packages. ​Even as the COVID-19 pandemic is seeing unprecedented impacts, past economic crises and public health crises have shown how mismanagement of funds and ​opaque ownership structures​ hamper economic recovery.

OGP’s Open Response + Open Recovery campaign and ​call to action to its member countries highlights the urgent need for governments to mandate that companies receiving emergency funds disclose information about their beneficial owners. COVID-19 has not only presented a hurdle to many institutions of democracy, including independent media, but has uncovered pre-existing international weaknesses that need international solutions. The implementation of beneficial ownership transparency regimes is paramount to ensure that relief packages go to where they are intended, that the world can address old issues of opacity that allow for the international flow of illicit finances, highlighted in the FinCEN leaks of this year, and so that countries can build back stronger than before. The roundtable outlined a pathway for collective action as countries review their longer term recovery and resilience efforts, including with multilateral partners, and others key allies.

Speakers:

• Prince Clem Agba, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Nigeria
• Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
• Rustam Badasyan, Minister of Justice, Armenia
• Elisa de Anda Madrazo, Vice-President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
• Eduardo Bohorquez, Executive Director, Transparencia Mexicana
• Ivana Rossi, Financial Sector Expert, International Monetary Fund (IMF)