Unmasking Control: A Guide to Beneficial Ownership Transparency

Books, October 7, 2022

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Unmasking Control: A Guide to Beneficial Ownership Transparency

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Bibliographic details

• Published: October 7, 2022
• Series: Books
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400208041.071

Overview

• Purpose: A guide for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to establish comprehensive frameworks for holding beneficial ownership information for anti-money laundering purposes.
• Central problem: Hidden beneficial owners enable abuse of companies and other legal entities for money laundering, terrorist financing, and many other crimes.
• Core consequences highlighted:
  • Misuse of entities to hide identities and criminal origins of assets.
  • Economic distortions that negatively impact economic growth.
  • Criminal infiltration and control of the legal economy.

Key findings and impacts

• Hiding beneficial ownership information:
  • Facilitates money laundering.
  • Facilitates terrorist financing and proliferation financing.
  • Increases opportunities for corruption.
  • Hampers efforts against tax evasion and tackling illicit financial flows.
  • Undermines national security interests.
  • Weakens procurement transparency.
• The book frames lack of beneficial ownership information as a negative effect on countries’ economies and on the integrity of the financial and corporate sectors.

Guidance for practitioners and policymakers

• The book:
  • Proposes questions to guide strategic thinking and discussion about establishing an effective system of beneficial ownership information.
  • Serves as a practical guide for establishing comprehensive beneficial ownership information frameworks.
• Intended audiences:
  • Practitioners, policymakers, and other researchers focused on AML/CFT and related areas.

Subjects, keywords, and thematic focus

• Subject areas:
  • Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT)
  • Central banks
  • Corruption
  • Crime
  • Financial crises
  • Money laundering
  • Proliferation financing
  • Terrorism financing
• Keywords preserved from source:
  • Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT)
  • Beneficial ownership information beneficial owner (T)BO company trust legal entity legal person legal arrangement entity transparency company registry transparency of beneficial ownership information AML/CFT anti-money laundering combating the financing of terrorism International Monetary Fund Legal Department
  • Corruption, Global, government approach, government entity, government trade, Money laundering, ownership information, Proliferation financing, tax authorities, Terrorism financing