October 7, 2016
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors which sets out its on-going work to improve the implementation of international standards on transparency, including on the availability and exchange of beneficial ownership information, to prevent the misuse of companies, trusts, and other corporate vehicles.
Improving transparency has been on the FATF agenda since 2003 when it first introduced international standards on beneficial ownership. Subsequent assessments of countries highlighted weaknesses in the way many countries had implemented these standards. In 2012, the FATF strengthened the standards and addressed vulnerabilities such as bearer shares. The FATF standards now set out comprehensive measures to ensure transparency to prevent the misuse of corporate vehicles, which are globally recognised and are also used in the peer review process of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum)