Lax oversight of corporate register undermines UK transparency, watchdog

Hundreds of thousands of UK companies have exploited loopholes and lax regulatory enforcement to circumvent rules on reporting their beneficial owners, a British watchdog group said Monday.

A study by London-based Global Witness found that the number of corporations that have reported to the UK Companies House that they have no beneficial owner has risen to 336,224 in 2019 compared to 335,010 in the previous year. Of those corporations that name individuals with “significant control,” more than 2,000 identify directors that have previously been banned from holding a directorship, the organization said.

Read more at KYC360.