Beneficial Ownership Transparency — Exploring the Private Sector Use Case

Beneficial ownership transparency has emerged as one of the most effective tools for exposing corruption, and around the world 121 governments have committed to establishing central registers of beneficial ownership information. But surprisingly little attention has been paid to the role of the private sector and for-profit companies in the emerging beneficial ownership ecosystem. This report contributes to the evolution of the field by exploring the roles the business community can play. To do so, we distill the private sector use case for beneficial ownership information and evaluate stakeholder feedback from business communities in three different contexts: Armenia, Kenya, and Senegal. We conclude with practical recommendations for how the business community could play a more useful role in future BO reform efforts.