Transparency of the beneficial ownership (BO) of corporate entities is increasingly regarded as an essential element in the fight against corruption, and as a tool for preventing money laundering, and for countering the financing of terrorism and tax evasion. Numerous case studies have shown that corporate vehicles, including companies, trusts, foundations, and fictitious entities, can be misused to conceal the identities of the people involved in large-scale corruption, and to hide and transfer the proceeds of crime. As a result, international efforts to prevent the misuse of corporate vehicles for financial crime have intensified. Countries are required by various international standards, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum), to take measures to ensure the transparency of the BO of corporate entities in their jurisdictions. 

This paper analyses the ongoing reforms, challenges, and opportunities to ensuring BO transparency in nine Asian and Pacific countries implementing the EITI Standard. These include Armenia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Tajikistan, and Timor-Leste. The paper identifies that the BO transparency regime and systems in the region are unevenly developed, ranging from countries that are at the very beginning of introducing the necessary legal and regulatory BO reforms to countries that have made significant progress by establishing publicly accessible BO registers. 

The paper identifies and analyses a range of common issues that need to be addressed by these countries, depending upon the levels of their progress, to achieve their stated objective of compliance with the EITI Standard and the relevant FATF Recommendations, and so to ensure the availability and accessibility of adequate, accurate, and up-to-date information on beneficial owners. Some of these issues include:

a) a lack of an efficient and effective legal and regulatory framework that provides a strong legal basis for BO transparency;

b) technical and practical challenges to developing and implementing the BO register, including data collection and data verification challenges; 

c) a lack of clarity on the interaction of the BO disclosure regime with individuals’ right to privacy and the data protection regime; and

d) a lack of effective enforcement mechanisms to ensure the accuracy of BO information. 

The paper emphasises the importance of delivering access to reliable and up-to-date information on beneficial owners, although it is recognised that the challenges involved in achieving this objective are substantial. For establishing and improving the transparency of BO, the paper highlights a range of topics for consideration that these jurisdictions need to adequately address.