Identifying Beneficial Owners for Fighting against Money Laundering: The Results of EU Project Bownet

Abstract

This paper presents the main results of Project BOWNET (www.bownet.eu), funded by the EU Commission, DG Home Affairs, and carried out by an international consortium coordinated by Transcrime/Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore (www.transcrime.it). Focus of Project BOWNET is on the identification of the beneficial owners (BO) of those corporate entities (e.g. companies, trusts, and foundations) used by criminals for money laundering or other financial crime purposes. In particular the project has analyzed the main problems of EU competent authorities and intermediaries in BO identification and suggested solutions for improving the related investigations. The Project has produced a range of deliverables, all available on the project website (www. bownet.eu) including a Final Report (Riccardi and Savona 2013)1 and a series of figures, charts and lists of business registers.