Beneficial ownership transparency has emerged as an important policy tool in countries for combating corruption, stemming illicit financial flows, and fighting tax evasion.
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Shell companies (and other legal vehicles) are often used to hide profits, terrorist financing, or illegally obtained money. In most countries, disclosure of the individual(s) who ultimately controls or profits from a business (the “beneficial owners”) is not required. According to the World Bank, roughly 70 percent of the biggest corruption cases between 1980 and 2010 involved anonymous companies.
Growing global recognition of these problems, as highlighted by revelations in the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, FinCEN Files, and the latest Pandora Papers, is accelerating interest in beneficial ownership transparency reform. Governments as diverse as Denmark, Kenya, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom have committed to publish beneficial ownership information. Similarly, more and more OGP member countries, including Armenia, Nigeria, and Mexico, are using their action plans to advance beneficial ownership transparency by implementing central registers. Some of these countries are exploring policy tools to publish these are public registers.
Altogether, one third of OGP national members have made 52 total beneficial ownership commitments since OGP was established in 2011.
The Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group, initiated by the United Kingdom and supported by partners including Open Ownership, seeks to support implementation beneficial ownership transparency through OGP and other platforms.The group is comprised of Armenia, Kenya, Latvia, Mexico, the Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom. Recently Nigeria also announced its intention to join.
Within OGP, sub-regional and regional communities of practice for peer learning on beneficial ownership transparency have been established, including for Latin America, the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership. These include members of the Leadership Group to help catalyze the race to the top on this set of reforms.
Shell companies are often a major enabler of corruption and financial crime. To tackle this, Nigerian reformers in government and civil society came together to establish a registry to disclose the real owners of this companies through OGP. This is how they did it.
Watch the recordings from our Pre-Summit events on justice, beneficial ownership transparency, and gender.
The OGP Global Report suggests four key issues that countries can address in second generation reforms:
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The data below is drawn from the 2019 OGP Global Report. You can view and learn more about the report here.
These are members making OGP commitments to improve their performance in the respective policy area. As members that have demonstrated political commitment through OGP, the next step is ensuring that implemented commitments have maximal impact.
Key
Indicates that member has a starred commitment in this policy area.
Nothing about the inherent nature of business dictates that irreversible environmental damage, poor labor standards and conformity in leadership ...
2021, Outbound Link, Web Page
Corruption continues to undermine democratic institutions worldwide. Without strong commitments focused on political integrity, achieving OGP’s partnership-wide goals of economic…
2021, , Web Page
Transparency International shares recommendations for governments serious about tackling the impact of corruption on women and ensuring their participation in…
2020, Outbound Link, Web Page
A paper from Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (FACTI.org)
2020, Outbound Link, Web Page
Watch this video case study that highlights early results from the Slovak Republic's public register on beneficial ownership.
2019, Perspective, Web Page
Beneficial ownership transparency has emerged as an essential means for combating corruption, stemming illicit financial flows, and fighting tax evasion.
2019, Document, PDF
A look at global progress and member-level examples of beneficial ownership work in OGP
2021, Document, PDF
A few weeks ago, the Government of Georgia hosted the Fifth Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Tbilisi. The event…
2018, Perspective, Web Page
When a country first joins OGP, and we speak with civil society and government for the first time,…
2017, Perspective, Web Page
Explore EITI’s resources on beneficial ownership disclosure for the oil, gas and mining industries.
2019, Outbound Link, Web Page
Read case studies from Global Witness featuring investigations uncovering corruption dealings through anonymous companies.
2019, Outbound Link, Web Page
Explore this guide for practical resources, knowledge sharing, and good practice on beneficial ownership transparency that is being developed by…
, Outbound Link, Web Page
Learn about the debates surrounding the intersection between data protection and privacy laws and tackling corruption through beneficial ownership registers…
2019, Outbound Link, Web Page
Open Ownership, The B Team and Engine Room share the rationales and risks for the public disclosure of ownership data.
2019, Outbound Link, Web Page
Read Transparency International’s report for model commitments, best practice for opening registers, and more.
2018, Outbound Link, Web Page
2018, Document, PDF
In recent years, we’ve seen significant progress on clamping down on the abuse of anonymous company ownership through beneficial ownership…
2018, Perspective, Web Page
The Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group came together in 2019 to drive the global policy shift towards free, open beneficial ownership…
2020, , Web Page
Many beneficial ownership registration frameworks fail to obtain beneficial ownership information from listed companies for two main reasons. Tax Justice…
2020, Outbound Link, Web Page
Global Integrity, Open Data Charter, ILDA , AODN, and OD4D share four steps to generating OGP open data commitments to…
2021, Outbound Link, Web Page
Global Integrity, Open Data Charter, ILDA , AODN, y OD4D comparten cuatro pasos para generar compromisos OGP de datos abiertos…
2021, Outbound Link, Web Page
Global Integrity, Open Data Charter, ILDA , AODN, et OD4D partagent 4 étapes pour générer des engagements OGP de données…
2021, Outbound Link, Web Page
Open Ownership outlines the main ways beneficial ownership data can improve public procurement processes and objectives and discusses some of…
2021, Outbound Link, Web Page
Open Ownership delinea distintos modos en que los datos sobre los beneficiarios finales mejoran los procesos de adquisición pública y…
2021, Outbound Link, Web Page
Explore Transparency International's Accountable Mining Programme's new guide for civil society organisations working to tackle corruption in mining.
2021, Outbound Link, Web Page
The UK government explains how the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard can be used by governments, how it meets user needs,…
2022, Outbound Link, Web Page
Open Ownership looks at the links between beneficial ownership transparency and gender. It considers a range of potential benefits, limitations,…
2022, Outbound Link, Web Page
Now is the time for governments to invest in reforms that can accelerate and improve how they deliver quality education, healthcare, water and sanitation, and supportive infrastructure.
Take a look at Ukraine’s 10-year journey as a champion in OGP, their progress that has been tragically interrupted by the war, and how reformers continue to live by and fight for the principles of open government.
Explore OGP's analysis of Summit For Democracy commitments, their relevance to open government values, their areas of focus, and how they compare to OGP commitments.
We unequivocally condemn the unjustified and unprovoked attack on Ukraine, a member of the Open Government Partnership...
Learn how Nigeria is achieving key milestones in beneficial ownership transparency through their engagement in OGP – from gaining political will within key institutions to navigating conversations between government, businesses, and civil society.
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