The British government has rejected calls by lawmakers to impose more-stringent corporate transparency standards on U.K. overseas territories and dependencies, claiming that the jurisdictions are already "well ahead" of other international tax havens.
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.
British businesses must collect and store data on their beneficial owners as of Wednesday, under a milestone deadline for the U.K.'s plan to launch a public register aimed at improving corporate transparency.
U.K. overseas territories officials in London this week pledged to create central registries or similar effective systems to share data on beneficial owners more easily with financial crime investigators, but didn't disclose when and how they would comply with the initiative.
U.K. elections in May aren't likely to spare British territories from implementing new corporate transparency measures, but the results could determine how soon and how far those steps are taken.
Britain needs to increase its number of experienced investigators and banking compliance examiners and adopt stronger legislation to improve lax anti-money laundering efforts in its overseas territories, according to a government report.
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