Main points

• Beneficial ownership registers, primarily established within AML frameworks, can be useful to competent authorities and obliged entities and to members of the public to effectively prevent, detect, and counter financial crime.
• Examples of uses beyond the AML sector have shown the untapped potential of the use of beneficial ownership information by a wider range of stakeholders advancing broader policy objectives, including public procurement, tax justice and sanction implementation.
• The type of access, available functionalities, and the quality of information in beneficial ownership registers influence their use and can lead to a proactive use of this data.