140: Beneficial ownership register to provide greater transparency on overseas companies

A register of owners of overseas companies buying property in the UK will go ‘live’ in 2021 as part of a government crackdown on laundering of dirty money in the UK.

The beneficial ownership register will provide details of the ultimate owners of UK property, which is often bought using off-shore corporations. It is thought that criminal gangs have laundered more than £180 million worth of money in this way through property in the UK since 2004.

The register will require overseas companies that own or buy property in the UK to provide details of their ultimate owners, making it harder to launder proceeds and easier for enforcement agencies to track criminal funds.

In June 2016, the UK became one of the first countries to require a ‘people with significant control register’ (PSC). This central, publicly available PSC register requires UK companies to identify individuals who have significant interests in their shares and to publicly disclose their interests.

The next step is to track beneficial ownership of UK property so that regulators and the public alike can find out who the true owners of the property are. This week, the Government committed to publishing a draft bill this summer and introducing legislation to create this new register which should be available by the start of 2021.

This is a big step for the UK, which is a number one destination for foreign investment in Europe, and this will be the world’s first property related beneficial ownership register.