Privacy – It's Not All About Money

As you will have noticed, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force this week. Our inboxes have been bombarded with emails making sure we still want our personal details on record from a plethora of groups and companies. However, it does seem a bit peculiar that this crusade for privacy should be happening at the same time as we have been facing national debate on transparency.

On 1 May, a high-profile debate in the UK House of Commons passed a set of amendments to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill that brought the issue of beneficial owners of companies, and public registers, back into the spotlight.

But while MPs have been fighting for wealthy individuals to have their business affairs made public, GDPR is doing its utmost to ensure our personal details are kept private. While the two ideas may seem miles apart, objectively, the underlying concept is the same. Why should everyday identities be protected, while significant economic