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Availability: Beneficial ownership of companies

To what extent is detailed information about the beneficial ownership of companies available for public use?

Definitions and Identification

A beneficial ownership register should contain details of the natural persons who have an ownership or control stake in or benefit from registered companies.

To recap, legally, both humans (natural persons) and companies (legal persons) can own, control, or benefit from companies. Beneficial owners are the individual human beings who ultimately own, wield control, or benefit, whether that’s openly or through corporate vehicles. This indicator investigates data that describes the beneficial owners of companies, rather than legal owners, shareholders, or directors.

A register of the beneficial owners of companies must thus extend beyond the immediate legal owners, shareholders, or directors of a company to identify and disclose the natural persons (individual, named human beings) who exercise ultimate ownership or control or derive economic benefit—even if this ownership, control, or benefiting involves multiple intermediate companies or relationships.

Where company registration is a subnational responsibility, beneficial ownership registers may also be maintained subnationally. To achieve the highest scores on this indicator, it should be possible to easily access data about all the beneficial owners of companies in a country. This might be achieved by:

  • Having a central register of companies’ beneficial owners;

  • Government providing an aggregation service that brings together data from local registers; or

  • Having standardized or comparable-quality data available from every subnational register, such that a third party can easily aggregate the data.

Examples

  • In Nigeria, members of the public can use its Persons of Significant Control (PSC) register for free and without registration. Available search fields include entity name, entity number, and full name of the beneficial owner (here, person with significant control). Register data, which follows the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard (BODS), is published under an open data license and can be downloaded in JSON format.

  • Companies House in the UK publishes structured and machine-readable data about beneficial owners (as persons with significant control), with information available to the public directly through its online search tool as well as through an application programming interface (API); data can be bulk downloaded in CSV format.

Just as beneficial ownership disclosure laws and frameworks are relatively new, so too are their associated registers. Different countries handle such registers differently. Some countries have registers that cover the entire country; others manage registers at subnational levels; others may have both subnational registers and a national portal that provides a unified access point to multiple subnational registers.

In some countries, registers may also still be sector-specific or limited—for example, covering extractives or companies involved in public procurement. Increasingly, however, registers cover the entire economy. Registers may be broken down by type of corporate vehicle (e.g., there may be separate registers for companies, foundations, and trusts); some countries may also treat high-risk sectors differently. Further, some countries do not require a centralized register at all, but rather may require companies to maintain their own individual registers.

Note: This indicator pairs with a related indicator that assesses governance frameworks for beneficial ownership disclosure in order to compare frameworks and actual practice. While completing each one, you will likely discover further information that will help answer the sub-questions of the other, so it is suggested that you work on the pair together.

Starting points

  • Sources:

  • Search:

    • Search the website of the national company register or registrar for mentions of beneficial ownership or related terms (see the associated governance indicator for a nonexhaustive list of terms across languages and countries).

    • 'Beneficial ownership' + [country].

    • 'Ultimate beneficial owner' + [country].

    • 'Beneficiary owners' + [country].

  • Consult:

    • Transparency campaigners.

What to look for?

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

  • Are members of the public able to access beneficial ownership information, or is it only provided to certain parties (e.g., those that can demonstrate a legitimate interest, such as banks or law enforcement)?

    • Note: in cases where a register exists but is not public, the best sources of information about it are likely to be announcements from industry and government about relevant anti-money laundering (AML) legislative changes.

  • Does the data contains unique identifiers for each company?

  • Does the data contains clear and robust identifying information for each beneficial owner? Does it include only names and address or nationality, or does it also include persistent identifiers such as birth dates? Is it sex- and/or gender-differentiated?

  • Does the data contains comprehensive details of the interests held by each beneficial owner? Does it include not only details about the nature of an interest—such as whether it is shares, voting rights, ownership, or control—but also its size? (E.g., 25% of the shares, or 40% of the votes.) Does it also include details about other forms of deriving substantial or significant economic benefit from companies?

  • Does the data cover only a limited set of companies? E.g., from a single economic sector or only those that registered or updated their records after a certain date.

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

  • Is this data available online in any form?

    • Data is not available online.
      Supporting questions: Are there other offline ways to access this data in the country? (e.g., attending an office to inspect it).
    • Data is available, but not as a result of government action.
      Supporting questions: If government is not providing access to data, how is this data available? Please provide a URL(s) for where this data can be found.
    • Data is available from government, or because of government actions.
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URL(s) for where this data can be found.

  • Extent of existence:

  • How nationally comprehensive is the data assessed for this indicator? (The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without data available or with data of a lesser quality., The data assessed covers one or more localities and is representative of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities., The data assessed provides national coverage.)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without data available or with data of a lesser quality. or The data assessed covers one or more localities and is representative of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.: Which locality or localities does this data cover?

    If The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without data available or with data of a lesser quality. or The data assessed covers one or more localities and is representative of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.: Please explain your response.

    If The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without data available or with data of a lesser quality. or The data assessed covers one or more localities and is representative of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary.

  • Existence summary:

  • Please summarize your answers to the preceding existence sub-questions, including the extent of existence. [Open Text] Drawing on the research you have conducted and the evidence you have gathered for this section, describe what you have found (or not found) when answering the existence sub-questions for this indicator.

    Supporting questions

    Please provide the URL(s) for the evidence that supports the summary provided.

Elements

  • Data fields and specifics:

  • The data contains unique identifiers for each company. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide the URL(s) where company identifiers are located.

  • The data contains identifying information for each beneficial owner. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “Partially” if the data contains only names and address or nationality. Answer “Yes” if the data includes other key identifiers as well, such as date of birth (at least month and year) or other persistent identifier.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please list the identifying information provided.

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide the URL(s) where clear identification of owners is located.

  • The data contains details of the interests held by each beneficial owner. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “Yes” if both the nature (e.g., shares, voting rights, ownership, control, other substantial economic benefit) and size (e.g., 25% of the shares, or 40% of the votes) of the interest are given. Answer “Partially” if only some of this information is given.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide the URL(s) where details of interests are located.

  • The data is published according to one or more relevant data standards. (No, Partially, Yes) This means that the published data follows guidelines that define how data should be collected or recorded, thus ensuring it is comparable and interoperable with other datasets.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please briefly explain your “Partially” answer.

    If Partially or Yes: Which standards are in use?

  • Data publication:

  • The data is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes) This means that the data is accessible without any cost, unlike cases where accessing datasets requires a one-off payment or a subscription fee.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

  • The data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes) This means that the data is provided under a license that clearly states that anyone may reuse it, with minimal restrictions on its reuse (e.g., attribution, share-alike).

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If No: If there are explicit restrictions placed on reuse of the data, briefly describe those.

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially or Yes: If the data is provided with an explicit open license, please provide the name of that license and/or a link to it.

  • The data is published with sufficient language coverage to make it accessible to all or almost all members of the public. (No, Partially, Yes) Assess this sub-question using the list of languages provided by your regional coordinator. If the country has only one official language (or de facto official language) and no national languages but there are other languages in use in the country, answer “Partially” if the data is available only in a single language. If the country has multiple official, national, or co-official regional languages, answer “Yes” if the data is available in the majority of these languages.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially or Yes: Please briefly describe the language coverage available.

  • There are accessible and open official tools available to help users explore data. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “Partially” if tools make it possible to get at extracts of data without having to download a full dataset. Answer “Yes” if there is an interactive tool that displays user-filtered extracts of the data to answer simple questions without downloading data at all.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially: What are the main barriers to accessibility and usability?

    If Partially or Yes: Do these tools rely on AI or machine-learning tools? For example, as interfaces. Please briefly explain.

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s).

  • The data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes) If you have also assessed an associated governance framework, evaluate timeliness by comparing against the relevant schedule laid out in that framework. If there is no such schedule, look first for other indications of an expected schedule (e.g., does the site say the data is updated once a year?), and then examine the frequency, regularity, and recency of updates.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially: If only some of the relevant data is updated, please explain which.

    If Partially or Yes: When was the most recent update to this data?

  • Historical data is available that allows users to track change over time. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially or Yes: For what time period(s) (i.e., start and end dates) is data available?

  • The data is provided in machine-readable format(s). (No, Partially, Yes) Assess the datasets you have provided in response to this indicator’s sub-questions; if there are multiple datasets, use the best example you can locate in terms of availability of open data. Note this selection in the elements summary box and then also answer the following sub-question (on bulk downloading) with respect to that specific dataset.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially: What prevents you from assessing this data as fully machine-readable?

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a comma separated list of the formats available

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide the URL(s) where machine-readable data is located.

  • The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “No” if it's only possible to access individual records. Answer “Partially” if it's possible to export extracts of the data. Answer “Yes” if there are bulk downloads or APIs providing access to the whole dataset without financial, technical, or legal barriers.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide the URL(s) where bulk download access is available or described.

    If Partially or Yes: If bulk access is provided through an API, please provide a link to where the API is described.

  • Negative scoring:

  • This information is missing required data. (There is no evidence of data gaps., There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing., There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.) In cases where the indicator itself identifies a dataset(s) to assess against—or a separate governance indicator has asked you to determine data requirements of a relevant governing framework—assess against that. In cases where there is no such identified dataset(s) or related governance indicator, please assess based on: the parameters laid out in the publication of the information (e.g., are some fields entirely empty when they shouldn't be?); your local knowledge (e.g., if the data is supposed to include information for all public officials, does the number of total entries seem reasonable?); and any broader research you may have done for this topic (e.g., have media articles decried the incompleteness of this data?). Note: this sub-question examines omissions only of mandated data; so if, for example, laws do not require the reporting of data below certain thresholds, that data is not considered “missing.”

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing. or There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.: Please briefly explain.

  • Nonscoring:

  • The data includes information about individuals' sex and/or gender. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially or Yes: Please describe what data includes sex and/or gender information.

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide the URL(s) where sex and/or gender information is located.

  • There is evidence of use of this data. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “Yes” for more than one example; answer “Partially” for a single example.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

    If Partially or Yes: In the example(s) provided, who is using this data? E.g., government, civil society, private sector, media, academia, others.

    If Partially or Yes: In the example(s) provided, for what purpose(s) is the data being used? E.g., for accountability, to improve access for marginalized populations, to influence policy for equity or inclusion, for red flag analysis, etc.

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for example(s).

  • Elements summary:

  • Please summarize your answers to the preceding element sub-questions. [Open Text] Drawing on the research you have conducted and the evidence you have gathered for this section, describe what you have found (or not found) when answering the element sub-questions for this indicator.

    Supporting questions

    Please provide the URL(s) for the evidence that supports the summary provided.

Beneficial ownership data is valuable for a wide range of use cases, including:

  • Supporting anti-corruption and anti–money laundering investigations;

  • Enabling business intelligence and corporate due diligence;

  • Supporting cross-border and wealth taxation;

  • Governance of extractive industries and other high-risk sectors.

Lord (2019) describes how, over the preceding decade, three issues came together to support a push for improved corporate data sharing, and in particular, better collection and sharing of data on beneficial owners: the 2008 financial crisis brought into relief the “dangers of uncertain information and unknown actors in financial markets”; a 2011 World Bank report on the abuse of anonymous companies; and international taxation and anti-money laundering reforms. These have all highlighted the need for interchangeable data not only on firms, but also on their ownership structures and the natural persons behind them.

Within the corporate information landscape, the concept of beneficial ownership has rapidly gained traction. Increasingly, countries require companies to disclose the identities of the individuals who hold ultimate ownership or control over or derive economic benefit from legal entities, cutting through layers of shell corporations and other complex arrangements (Low and Kiepe 2020; Russell-Prywata 2020).

Some countries have responded to new requirements for beneficial ownership disclosure by updating existing corporate registers; others have developed dedicated beneficial ownership registers or disclosure regimes (Financial Action Task Force/OECD 2019). Virtually all of the legal and regulatory frameworks for beneficial ownership transparency will have originated in an era in which administrations should be aware of the potential value of structured data. Consequently, tracking the extent to which these frameworks—and their related datasets—explicitly incorporate awareness of data can offer important insights into the degree to which countries are integrating a data-aware approach into new regulatory activities.