The new Treasury rule requires banks to do yet more due diligence to unmask a company’s true owner at the time an account is set up. Banks will now be required to collect and verify the names of any person who owns more than 25 percent of a corporate entity, along with the identity of one “individual who controls” it.
Critics argue the measure doesn’t go far enough because it doesn’t address existing bank accounts. Shruti Shah, the vice president of programs and operations for the U.S. branch of Transparency International, a global anti-corruption organization, argues that it also conflates the definition of ownership with management. “If nothing, what the Panama Papers proved is that some of these people are mere figureheads,” she said. Read more