May 12, 2016
British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that foreign companies owning property in the U.K. will have to declare their assets publicly in a crackdown on money-laundering.
Writing in The Guardian, Cameron said that foreign firms wanting to hold property or be in contention for state contracts will have to make the details of their assets public via a new governmental register. The move was announced as Cameron on Thursday launched a wider initiative, seeking to tackle corruption and rid London of its reputation as a money laundering capital.
A spokesperson for Cameron said the new register of foreign companies would include both companies that already owned property in the U.K. as well as those currently seeking to do so.
According to Downing Street, with the new framework “corrupt individuals and countries will no longer be able to move, launder and hide illicit funds through London’s property market, and will not benefit from our public funds.”