Connecting ownership data: Practical pathways to tackle cross-border financial crime

Summary

Executive summary

Transnational corruption is routinely enabled by anonymously owned companies. Seventy percent of major corruption cases in recent decades have involved legal vehicles whose true owners were concealed, often through cross-border structures. Illicit financial flows are moved through complex ownership chains that span jurisdictions, distorting markets, enabling tax abuse, weakening financial systems, and diverting public resources.

In response, over the past decade more than 100 jurisdictions have established beneficial ownership (BO) registers. This represents major progress toward increasing transparency around who ultimately owns and controls companies and other legal vehicles. With more BO information than ever now being collected, the next challenge is to unlock impact through use of this information – at scale and across borders – to strengthen revenue mobilisation, protect public resources, counter corruption, and enhance financial integrity.

The Taskforce on Interoperable Beneficial Ownership Data (“the Taskforce”) was convened to identify solutions to this challenge, by focusing specifically on the issue of interoperability – the ability to connect and understand information from multiple sources – as this had been highlighted as a known challenge that was underexplored.

This report sets out the Taskforce’s findings and recommendations. The report clarifies key concepts, examines practical scenarios for implementation at global, regional, and bilateral levels, and identifies recommendations.

Explore the key points from the report in this executive summary, and read the joint press release here.