Trust And Transparency

The government's recent discussion paper on "Transparency & Trust: Enhancing the Transparency of UK Company Ownership and Increasing Trust in UK Business" has thrown off some interesting issues.¹ The proposals mooted are intended to enhance corporate transparency by improving the ability to know who really owns and controls UK companies.  Whilst one needs to appreciate that a lot of political noise contaminates the issues under consideration there are four areas which we consider to be of particular note.

Register of beneficial ownership

David Cameron has championed the disclosure of beneficial ownership at the G8 summit in June this year.  The intended beneficiaries of such additional disclosure are intended to be taxation authorities.  However, there is a powerful argument that it is the companies themselves who should have the right to know who their beneficial owners are.  At present, under English law, this right only exists for public companies in