(Parliamentary Under
Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate
Responsibility): Our modern Industrial Strategy
seeks to maintain the UK’s global reputation as a good place to
do business. People come to Britain confident in our high
corporate standards, including market transparency, which foster
confidence and trust. Transactions are improved and the market
has greater confidence when people know who they are doing
business with, whilst lack of transparency can facilitate
criminal behaviour.
The 2017 National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and
Terrorist Financing highlights the fact that property continues
to be an attractive vehicle for criminal investment, in
particular for high end money laundering. The risks relating to
abuse of property are most acute where property is owned
anonymously through corporate structures or trusts.
This Government committed at the 2016 International
Anti-Corruption Summit to create a register showing the
beneficial owners of overseas entities which own or buy property
in the UK. The Government also committed in primary legislation,
through Section 50 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act
2018, to report to Parliament annually on the progress that has
been made towards putting in place such a register.
Over the past year, significant progress has been made towards
the introduction of the register.
The Government published a Draft Registration of Overseas
Entities Bill on 23 July 2018 and invited comment on it from
interested parties. 29 responses were received from civil society
groups, the property sector and others, which has informed the
development of the register. The Draft Bill and Explanatory Notes
set out how the register will operate.
A Joint Committee was appointed to consider and report on the
Draft Bill. The Commons members of the committee were appointed
on 19 February 2019. The Lords members were appointed on 25
February 2019. The Committee held a number of evidence sessions,
including one on the 25 March 2019 at which I gave evidence. They
also invited interested individuals and organisations to submit
written evidence to their inquiry.
The Committee made recommendations in a report to both Houses,
published on 20 May 2019. The Government welcomes the committee’s
thorough and helpful scrutiny of the Bill. We are considering
their recommendations and will publish a response in due course.
The Government intends to introduce the Bill to Parliament as
soon as parliamentary time allows. We will continue to work
closely with interested parties, including our delivery partners,
in developing secondary legislation and preparing for
implementation. Following Royal Assent and the making of
secondary legislation, the Government intends that the register
will be operational in 2021.
The UK continues to lead the global fight against illicit
finance. The Financial Action Task Force completed a landmark
review of the UK’s regime for tackling money laundering in
December 2018, concluding that we have some of the strongest
controls in the world.
