Following an earlier white paper consultation, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published potential amendments to Recommendation 24 on the transparency and beneficial ownership of legal persons. The FATF published this public consultation to hear from affected stakeholders before finalising the amendments.
The European Association of Co-Operative Banks (EACB) welcomes the FATF efforts to further strengthen transparency with regard to beneficial ownership and the opportunity to comment on these amendments.
The European co-operative banks consider that a beneficial ownership registry ran by authorities is the best alternative to ensure a high standard of beneficial ownership information. Such registry should have enough resources and powers to ensure the quality of beneficial ownership information, and AML/CFT obliged entities should be able to rely on that information.
Furthermore, a risk-based approach should be applied in verification of beneficial ownership information.
Please see the EACB answer for more details.