The leak of millions of records purporting to show widespread exploitation of offshore financial centers by global leaders, lenders and criminals is expected to draw governmental scrutiny of illicit finance, however unevenly.
The Obama administration is pushing lawmakers to introduce legislation that would require corporations to obtain tax identification data that could be turned over to investigators.
U.S. officials will formally propose this month a long-planned rule that would require banks to identify the owners of their corporate clients, according to an Office of Management and Budget schedule.
Intergovernmental plans to better identify corporate owners will do little to thwart financial crooks, even at great cost to banks and governments, according to an academic report on offshore financial flows.
EU parliamentarians voted Tuesday to require member-states to update their laws targeting money launderers and the financiers of terrorism, in part by naming corporate owners.
A European Parliamentary committee Thursday approved far-reaching changes to the EU's rules combating money laundering and terrorist financing, including an amendment that would require nations to publicize corporate owners.
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.
British asset management firms are failing to adequately address their vulnerabilities to money laundering, bribery and corruption, the United Kingdom's chief financial regulator said Thursday.
British officials are set to propose legislation that would require private corporations and limited liability partnerships to publicly disclose their individual owners, a U.K. minister said Monday.
U.S. Treasury Department officials are weighing whether to exempt trusts and offer more flexibility on verification requirements in an upcoming proposal that would impose data collection duties on corporate accounts held at banks.
Critics of a U.S. Treasury Department plan to strengthen beneficial ownership reporting by financial institutions aired their concerns to Obama administration officials at a rare public hearing Tuesday.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it was considering imposing customer due diligence currently applied to private banking and correspondent accounts to all accountholders at depository institutions.
Few small financial firms in the U.K. have adequate anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs, including enhanced due diligence controls for high-risk clients, Britain's top financial regulator said Monday.
The head of a powerful U.S. Senate panel is pushing to include new corporate transparency measures as part of broader financial reform legislation, according to former and current staffers.
For many, the question of whether it's easier to anonymously form a shell company in a Group of 20 country or a blacklisted tax haven will seem to have an obvious answer. Many would be wrong, however, according to a recent study.
U.S. lawmakers approved a measure Wednesday to pressure foreign banks to disclose details about their American client accounts as part of an effort to clamp down on tax evasion.
IPOC International Growth Fund Limited of Bermuda pleaded guilty Wednesday to perverting the course of justice and filing false and misleading information regarding the source of a $40 million security deposit given to court officials in 2004 as part of a lawsuit.
After a two-year delay, the U.S. government on Thursday released an anti-money laundering (AML) strategy focused on nine areas including money services businesses and trade-based finance. It did not include plans for combating terrorist financing, a break from previous strategies.
U.S. states have been criticized for not requiring corporations to disclose who their beneficial owners are, an issue Congress is tackling with legislation to make company formation agents comply with anti-money laundering regulations.
The reduce the threat of shell companies, banks must ask questions to understand the nature of any business opening an account and should seek proof that the business produces something, says David Caruso, an AML compliance expert.