July 7, 2025
Global Financial Integrity has released a new report titled “Beneficial Ownership Registries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Current Status, Challenges, and Perspectives,” offering a comprehensive legal mapping of beneficial ownership (BO) registry frameworks across the region.
The report was developed between November 2024 and March 2025, combining legal analysis, review of official databases, and interviews in Belize and Colombia with national authorities, lawmakers, and private sector actors. It focused exclusively on existing laws governing beneficial ownership (BO) registers, assessing 38 countries and jurisdictions — including the British Overseas Territories (BOTs) — while excluding Dutch and U.S. overseas territories as well as Venezuela.
Among the key findings, the report reveals that of the 22 Caribbean jurisdictions assessed, including the BOTs, 15 have private registers, four have not established any register, and three offer partial access based on legitimate interest.
In Mexico and Central America, three of the seven jurisdictions analyzed have implemented BO registers, while the remaining four have not yet done so. In South America, all countries assessed in the report — except Bolivia — have established registers, with Argentina, Uruguay, and Colombia standing out due to their advanced legal frameworks. Regarding thresholds, most Caribbean and Central American countries apply a 25% ownership or control to define BO, while in South America, the regional average is 10%, reflecting a more rigorous approach to transparency
In addition to the regional legal analysis, the report features two case studies – Belize and Colombia – , which highlight how political will, institutional design, and enforcement strategies shape the trajectory of BO reforms as well as the accessibility, accuracy, and usefulness of the information collected in BO registries.
The report contemplates only the “registry approach”, focusing on countries that have enacted legislation requiring the establishment of centralized, legally binding BO registries. Countries using alternative approaches, such as “corporate approach”or tax filings, are excluded from the assessment. The analysis underscores the role of national legal frameworks in enabling oversight, protecting against illicit financial flows, and promoting trust and accountability, regardless of whether access to data is public, partially public, or private.
It concludes that despite legislative advances, beneficial ownership registries in Latin America and the Caribbean face major implementation gaps—particularly in data verification, access, and integration with procurement systems. These weaknesses limit their effectiveness in tackling corruption and financial crime. The report calls for stronger oversight, broader regulatory coverage, and reforms that respond to each country’s specific risks to make transparency efforts truly effective.
The report recommends strengthening data verification systems, expanding the scope of entities required to report beneficial ownership—including trusts and foreign companies—and adopting tiered access models that balance transparency with privacy. The findings urges governments to link BO data with public procurement systems, leverage it in environmental and human rights investigations, and promote regional cooperation through shared standards and data exchange. Finally, the report calls for investment in technical infrastructure and training to ensure that BO registries are secure, interoperable, and effectively used by authorities and civil society
Contact: Luisa Acosta. program assistant, lacosta@gfintegrity.org