Martin Kenney welcomes a decision by the European Court of Justice that open beneficial ownership registers – sometimes called open UBO registers – are incompatible with the right to privacy. Unlimited transparency isn’t necessarily effective in the battle against economic criminals, he warns.
Will the U.K.’s new Economic Crime Act really help crack down on illicit wealth? That’s the question posed by Martin Kenney in an exclusive opinion piece for the Toronto Star, who points out that loopholes in the UK’s new Economic Crime Act will restrict the its effectiveness and fall short of what transparency campaigners have long been demanding.
Shaun Reardon-John presents an exclusive Martin Kenney & Co article looking at the future of the BVI, published in the brand new 2022 FraudNet Annual Global Report.
The G7’s move to “standardise” corporate tax rates across the globe is short-sighted and may well have long term, detrimental (and unintended) side effects.
One of Allen Stanford’s victims said that Stanford was worse than Bernie Madoff, who has just died, because Stanford targeted middle-class investors. “He stole more than millions,” the victim said, “he stole our lives as we knew them.”
UWOs were intended to empower UK law enforcement agencies to attack the UK-based assets of high-net worth individuals with shady pasts who owned assets of questionable origin. They could also be used to target UK-held assets of politically exposed persons (PEPs) suspected of grand corruption in their home states.
With no fewer than four of the five biggest fines levied against financial institutions in 2020 against U.S. financial institutions, the new administration needs to do much more than merely combat poor business and regulatory practices.
It is time for the government to address an issue that is damaging the international reputation of Canada, says Martin Kenney for The Toronto Star.
Canada needs to up its game. It still lacks the rigorous checks and balances needed to protect society from con artists who would exploit its financial systems.
OPINION: If we’re going to have public company registers, then make them accessible by a realistic fee – and bolster their robustness – writes Martin Kenney for ACFE Insights.
