The British government should compel its offshore territories and dependencies to publicly disclose corporate ownership data in a bid to prevent tax avoidance, a parliamentary group said in a report Thursday.
U.K. lawmakers are considering drafting legislation to force the nation's overseas territories to make corporate ownership data more readily available to investigators, according to sources.
British officials disclosed plans Thursday to require banks to screen their customers against a list of undocumented immigrants as part of a broader initiative to reduce unlawful migration.
The newly elected Tory government wants to empower the United Kingdom's Charity Commission to close down groups that "misappropriate funds towards extremism and terrorism" as part of its efforts to combat terrorism.
The resounding victory Thursday of Britain's Conservative Party will mean modest tweaks rather than sharp changes to the U.K.'s fight against financial crime in the coming five years, say analysts.
The U.K. is weighing amendments to its plan for a public registry of corporate owners that would allow individuals who control the firms to better protect their personal data.
British parliamentarians advanced a measure Wednesday that would create the country's first registry of corporate owners as part of a larger effort to shine light on opaque shell companies.
European Union nations may still have to name the owners of corporations but they won't necessarily do so publicly, under the economic bloc's latest iteration of an anti-money laundering proposal.
A U.K. plan to name the owners of privately-held corporations will help shine a light on shell companies, but how revealing that effort will be remains uncertain.