Open Ownership

A great year-end gift: Open Ownership and Open Data Services Co-operative have added new features to our Beneficial Ownership Data Standard visualisation library to help data users visualise and understand how #BeneficialOwnership networks change over time. - open-source - automatic visualisation https://lnkd.in/e_dpQ-rH

As we look ahead to 2025, we also look back on progress and opportunities for #BeneficialOwnership #trancparency in Southeast Asia in this new blog post by Emily Manuel

At the recent United Nations #FfD4 (Fourth Financing for Sustainable Development) preparatory meetings, our Senior Advocacy Manager, Agustina De Luca, delivered remarks on behalf of Open Ownership and the Civil Society FfD Mechanism. https://lnkd.in/gxfcWsNT

In this new blog post, our Regional Manager for Asia Pacific, Emily Manuel, discusses the importance of regional cooperation in advancing #BeneficialOwnership #transparency reforms in #SoutheastAsia, including suggestions to foster regional cooperation. https://lnkd.in/eV_Xh9ew

#ICYMI 🦋Open Ownership is now on Bluesky Social - follow us there! ➡️https://lnkd.in/e-_mr8bD #BeneficialOwnership #transparency #OpenStandards #OpenData #DataStandards #FollowTheMoney #IFFs #KYC #Bluesky #accountability

Check out Trust, Accountability and Inclusion Collaborative's last newsletter of the year 👇

While transparency on beneficial ownership registers might seem trivial, it has huge implications to ensure that we more effectively confront financial crime networks such as human trafficking, trade-based money laundering, wildlife trafficking, terrorism financing and corruption. Open Ownership, a world-class NGO, is leading the way with support to address this global imperative. 'Opaque company ownership structures are involved in 70% of major corruption cases in recent decades, often using complex transnational structures. Accurate and accessible beneficial ownership (BO) data is essential to reducing corruption and enabling accountability. Despite progress – such as over 90 jurisdictions establishing live BO registries – challenges persist. Having accessible and standardised data allows it to be interoperable and compared with other datasets to follow the money across borders.'

Reflections on Transparency International's new analysis of where funds stolen through corruption end up, from our Deputy Executive Director Louise Russell-Prywata (paraphrased): ▶️ "In 85 per cent of cases, companies and trusts were used to obscure the ownership of assets." - It is useful to have a more recent stat in comparison to the Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative (Puppet Masters analysis, 2011), which showed that 70%+ of grand #corruption cases feature anonymously owned companies. It is tough to read that this is still so high. But, we can't read too much into this - the datasets (likely) aren't comparable, and there's always a time lag when examining public info on corruption cases. Many recent reforms are unlikely to have been in place when the corruption took place. ▶️ Real estate (esp. in France, UAE, UK and US) is a popular choice for the corrupt elite looking to invest/make use of their stolen funds. This adds weight to the push already underway for better #transparency measures targeting real estate ownership. ▶️ Some pretty staggering examples of #RedFlags being ignored when suspicious wealth is used to purchase real estate (e.g. a politically exposed person reportedly buying three $1m properties with cash), again highlighting the need for better regulation and action to stop professional service providers enabling corruption. ▶️ With increasing discourse on ownership transparency of assets, it's great to see practical recommendations such as linking info in company #BeneficialOwnership registers with ownership registers for real estate and other assets. With more ownership registers coming online, connecting these offers the most practical solution to make use of the data while minimising duplication of reporting burdens etc. 💡 Supporting policy and technical solutions to do this well is a key focus for Open Ownership in 2025 - more updates to follow. Read the piece: https://lnkd.in/enCXfi_V

We have some exciting news: Open Ownership is seeking a chair and members for our new International Advisory Board. The Board will play a critical role in shaping our next period of growth, and provide support and scrutiny to the senior management team. They will support us in finalising and delivering our new 2025-2030 strategy. This strategy is crucial for us to best focus the organisation's expertise - our people, our knowledge and our tech - to achieving a bold goal: that by the end of this decade, everyone, inside and outside of government, who needs beneficial ownership information, has it and can use it to benefit everyone in society. Please help us spread the word, more details are available here: https://lnkd.in/eGirEkC3 #BeneficialOwnership #transparency

A new United Nations sustainable fisheries resolution has been adopted. This The Associated Press piece by Global Fishing Watch includes more details. "The adoption marks an important milestone in advancing transparency, vessel tracking and the identification of ultimate beneficial ownership in fisheries management." Watch this space for our new publication on strengthening fisheries governance through #BeneficialOwnership #transparency, co-authored with UNODC, coming soon. https://lnkd.in/eputWjHi