The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (“ECCTA”) introduces changes to UK company law to ensure accuracy of public information and reduce the possibility of fraud. Some of the key points are:...more
What? The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, published 22 September 2022, proposes fundamental changes to Companies House. The government intends these changes to improve data reliability at Companies House...more
Starting January 1, 2024, certain U.S. and foreign entities (Reporting Companies) must report detailed information about the individuals that beneficially own or substantially control them (Beneficial Owners) to the U.S....more
Important New Filings Will Be Required Beginning in 2024 - The United States does not currently have a centralized repository of data about who owns and operates legal entities within its borders. That soon will change....more
On January 1, 2023, amendments to the Ontario Business Corporations Act (“OBCA”) came into effect. Most notably, the OBCA now requires that private corporations in Ontario create and maintain a register of all “individuals...more
The UK government is taking further measures to tackle economic crime in the UK, reforming its corporate register, and giving extra powers to the Serious Fraud Office. The UK has published the new Economic Crime and...more
Under new rules in force as of January 1, 2023, private corporations incorporated or continued under Ontario’s Business Corporations Act (“OBCA”) will be required to maintain a register (“Transparency Register”) of...more
Insolvency officeholders may need clearance upon appointment to entity in an affected sector. The National Security & Investment Act (NSI Act) came into force in early January, and market participants might reasonably...more
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has pushed forward a wider government agenda to encourage transparency in relation to how overseas entities own UK real estate. We first reported many years ago on the details of the...more
In the early hours of 15 March 2022, the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act (the “Act”) came into force. The rapid passage of the Act through the UK Parliament, after years of delays, came in response to...more
On 1 March the Home Office introduced the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill (the "Bill"). The most significant change, introduced in Part 1 of the Bill, is the creation of a new, public "Register of Overseas...more
The Situation: The purchase of property in the United Kingdom has, for various reasons, become an attractive mechanism by which to launder criminal proceeds through overseas entities. The Solution: A draft bill is...more
The government has unveiled an ambitious series of reforms to Companies House in what it describes as “the largest change to our system of setting up and operating companies since the register was created in 1844.” These...more
The British Parliament has recently published two important post-legislative assessments of the effectiveness of the UK’s financial crime legislative framework, as well as an insight into future areas of focus....more
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has awarded the UK its highest ranking globally for anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) measures. In a report published in December 2018, FATF praised the...more
FATF has published its highly anticipated report on the effectiveness of the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures. On 7 December 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published its...more
“My message to facilitators is this: we’ve had a lot of focus on banks; now my investigators are going to be focusing on you.” This was the warning delivered by the Minister for State and Security to the so-called...more
The UK Government recently published a draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill that will require foreign entities who own or desire to own land in the UK to take steps to identify their beneficial owner(s) and to...more
On 23 July 2018, the UK Government confirmed it would legislate to introduce a new public register of ownership for all non-UK legal entities that own UK property. The register will be the first of its kind in the world and...more
The U.K.'s Government Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has launched a consultation on a draft Bill that would introduce a register of beneficial owners for overseas legal entities that own U.K. property....more
The UK government has recently launched a consultation on proposals to reform UK limited partnerships (LPs). LPs have long been considered to be an attractive investment vehicle due to the limited liability of limited...more
The UK government has recently provided further details regarding how it intends to implement a register of non-UK legal entities that own UK property....more
Hong Kong incorporated companies are required to maintain a register of significant controllers and should take reasonable steps to identify its significant controllers. Summary - From 1 March 2018, all Hong Kong...more
In this newsletter, we provide a snapshot of the principal Asian, US, European and selected international governance and securities law developments of interest to Asian corporates and financial institutions. ...more
The law and practice relating to financial crime and investigations is evolving fast. In the past 18 months we have seen two new Acts aimed at combatting financial crime (including the creation of two new corporate criminal...more