How does privacy fit into a transparent world?
Follow up study of the impact of the UBO register
What is the impact of increased transparency on wealthy families and family businesses?
Society demands more and more transparency. The European Union aims to increase transparency as well, and the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO)-register is one of their means to achieve this – but it requires careful balancing to achieve this goal.
The deadline for the implementation of the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO)-register for all the EU Member State is 27 June 2017. But even before the implementation is completed in all Member States, the European Commission already proposed to advance the introduction to 1 January 2017 and to make the UBO register public. In this case, the aim of more transparency is to prevent indiscretions and excesses. No one could possibly be against that. The right to privacy for UBOs, however, has been neglected – both in the design of the UBO register up until now, as well as in the recent proposal to amend the Directive. There is a risk that a public UBO-register, as it is currently designed, will not achieve the desired goal.
You can read all about these developments and the impact of the UBO register on family businesses in our report: “How does privacy fit into a transparent world?” In the report you will find an update on the developments concerning the implementation of the UBO register in fifteen European Member States. You will also find our vision on the impact of the UBO register on trusts and how, for example, the United States deals with transparency and privacy.
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