Danes reveal plans for public company register
(CNS Business): The Danish government has announced that it will create a public registry of beneficial ownership information for all Danish companies as part of the widening global crackdown on money laundering, corruption, and tax evasion.
Denmark’s plan follows the commitment by the British government that it would be creating a public registry of the beneficial owners of all companies registered in the United Kingdom and the endorsement by the European Parliament, which voted in favour of directing European Union member states to create public registries as part of revisions to the EU’s anti-money laundering directive (AMLD).
Although the Cayman Islands government has been given leeway by the UK to address the issue of beneficial ownership in its own way, the issue is one of significant sensitivity to the offshore sector.
Some are concerned that a fully public register would put an end to the financial services industry here and there is no need for it to be open as Cayman already has, and has had for a long time, legal mechanisms for those who need to know who owns who to find out. With the US still dragging its feet, the financial sector here will be unlikely to support any moves towards a more public beneficial owners register without a global level playing field.
However, the pressure remains for more and more automatic access to the often opaque world of international commerce. Experts and activists pressing for global transparency on who really owns and benefits from international firms said the Danish announcement raises that pressure on G20 leaders. Those leaders will meet for the annual summit in Brisbane, Australia, this week to strengthen their commitment to combat anonymous companies and the issue of public registries of anonymous companies will be high on the agenda.
“Anonymous companies facilitate the most heinous acts, from sex slavery, to arms trafficking, to bribery and corruption. Anonymous companies enable criminals to carry out crime after crime with impunity,†said Heather Lowe, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), one of a number of NGOS pressing for full transparency on all of the world’s commercial entities. “But, beyond the narrow law enforcement angle to this issue, is a larger point: everyone should be able to determine with whom they are doing business. That is why it is so important that beneficial ownership information is not simply collected, but that it’s public and available to everyone.â€
She added that this information was important to banks, who need this information to carry out their customer due diligence; to businesses, who need it to vet potential s partners, who need to adequately gauge their own exposures and journalists who can expose the issues of public interest.
“We strongly urge the G20 to endorse public registries of beneficial ownership information when they meet in Brisbane next week,†she added.
Category: Finance, Financial Services
