November 2014 may be remembered as the most significant month to date in the movement to fight the abuse of corruption and tax evasion through the use of anonymous shell companies.
Change in this field may be incrementally slow, but the G20 ramped up its engagement in a major way at the 2014 G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane, Australia. The body released new international commitments to collect information on the actual person—called the beneficial owner—behind anonymous companies and trusts.
Given the significant number of agenda items vying for attention on the global stage—ranging from the crisis in Ukraine to the U.S.-China climate change agreement to the advances of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS—it is no surprise that the wonky G20 financial transparency commitment went largely unnoticed in the mainstream.
The above excerpt was originally published in Newsweek.
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