February 21, 2024
Global Financial Integrity (GFI) is pleased to announce the release of its latest policy brief titled “How regional frameworks can be leveraged to facilitate the implementation of beneficial ownership reforms at regional and country levels.” This brief delves into the crucial role of regional organizations in advancing beneficial ownership transparency reforms across regions.
The policy brief assesses the roles and impact of regional frameworks, notably the East Africa Community (EAC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). GFI aims to develop insights into the ways regional collaboration might expedite beneficial ownership transparency reforms, therefore enhancing the effectiveness of efforts to avert illicit financial flows.
Key recommendations of the brief include:
- Using the regional blocs established under African Union (AU) such as Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and East African Community (EAC) to facilitate the execution of beneficial ownership changes in member countries can be useful.
- Governments, international organizations, and donors should collaborate with regional blocs to adopt beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) reforms.
- Governments should establish central registries.Integrating sectoral ones into a central registry is crucial when they already exist.
- Engaging a diverse variety of stakeholders and conducting thorough discussions through initiatives such as the OGP along with the EITI multi-stakeholder fora.
- Form regional task forces and working groups within the regional blocs that are explicitly devoted to beneficial ownership concerns.
- Capacity building for business registers, tax authorities, legislatures, and anti-money laundering agencies.
Philip Nyakundi, GFI’s Policy Director, Africa commented, “In their efforts to overcome the development constraints imposed by the small size of their national economies, African governments have created regional integration schemes. These vary from free trade arrangements to customs unions to common currency zones. With the integration, challenges like illicit financial flows and anti money laundering are likely to hamper the growth of the individual nations forming the various regional blocks hence the need for the blocks to work closely in facilitating beneficial ownership reforms to enhance transparency and accountability on matters trade as a measure to fight corruption ”
This policy brief serves as a valuable resource for policymakers, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders committed to advancing beneficial ownership transparency and combating illicit financial flows at both regional and national levels.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Dennis Kabia (GFI)- Communications Associate, Africa.