Global Program on Anticorruption for Development
The Global Hub for Beneficial Ownership Transparency
About the Global Hub for Beneficial Ownership Transparency
Beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) is a cornerstone of effective action against corruption, money laundering, and tax evasion, among others. Enhanced BOT yields considerable dividends for development outcomes - including by safeguarding domestic resource mobilization, fostering competitiveness and strengthening trust in institutions and markets. Effective BOT implementation strengthens public financial management by supporting public procurement integrity, and the efficiency, control, and accountability of public spending. As countries accelerate reforms, there is growing demand for more coordinated, evidence based, and practical support to translate commitments into impact.
The new Global Hub for Beneficial Ownership Transparency (gloBOT) proposed by the World Bank is a multi-stakeholder platform designed to accelerate beneficial ownership transparency reforms in countries by bringing together key actors for dialogue and collaboration, while generating shared global public goods, supporting stronger coordination of technical assistance and analytical efforts across partners, and strengthening the evidence base on what works in BOT reform practice.
GloBOT aims to bring coherence to a fragmented ecosystem of actors, instruments, and country-level engagements. GloBOT will build upon existing efforts and operate as a platform focused on improving dialogue between key stakeholders, reducing duplication of efforts, lowering information costs, and enabling more coherent and effective support to countries pursuing BOT reforms. Anchored in the World Bank's Anticorruption for Development Program, and leveraging the Bank's country engagement, convening power, and operational financing instruments, the gloBOT will address a structural gap in the BOT ecosystem: the absence of a systematic, birds-eye view of where momentum is building, where gaps persist, and generally how support can be better coordinated and sequenced.
Initial activities of the gloBOT
The Hub’s initial work program will tentatively focus on three flagship deliverables:
- a global BOT knowledge architecture that systematizes major assessment and diagnostic sources;
- a live coordination map of technical assistance and country engagements to improve visibility and complementarity across providers; and
- enabling cutting-edge research on the impact of beneficial ownership transparency.
Cutting across all three, a regular convening function will bring together standard-setters, technical assistance providers, civil society actors, and researchers to share lessons, identify implementation priorities, and align operational responses. Doing so will help create the kind of structured, cross-community dialogue that does not currently exist in any structured form.
Eventually, the Hub is intended to scale after an inception phase.
How does gloBOT work?
GloBOT's Secretariat, supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth, Development Office of the United Kingdom, is anchored in the World Bank's Anticorruption for Development Program, ensuring a strong technical and programmatic foundation, established stakeholder relationships, and synergies with related ongoing and future work at the World Bank. The Secretariat will ensure coordination with World Bank units working across governance, tax transparency, AML/CFT, and private sector engagement.
A Technical Advisory Group (TAG) will aim to bring together key international partners (standard-setters, evaluators, and technical assistance providers in the BOT space such as the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Action Task Force, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Open Ownership, and the World Bank) to inform and strengthen the work by the Secretariat.
GloBOT's community will extend beyond the TAG through the existing BOT thematic working group. The community will include civil society organizations and private sector actors, who continue to engage through thematic working groups and will have access to the Hub's knowledge resources and convening activities.
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The gloBOT will aim for:
- Impact at scale: coordinated action reduces duplication and increases effectiveness of BOT reforms globally.
- An evidence‑driven approach: comparable diagnostics and impact analysis should inform policy and lending decisions.
- Complementarity: the Hub will build on and support existing initiatives rather than duplicating them.
For more information on the Hub, please reach out to Yara Esquivel (yquirossoto@worldbank.org) and Vartika Neeraj (vneeraj@worldbank.org).
While global standards exist, implementation on the ground remains inconsistent. Countries face limited institutional capacity that results in diminished quality of data and lack of verification, weak coordination across agencies and borders, and insufficient evidence of what works. While BOT reforms continue to be rolled out in countries, some of the core implementation challenges are:
- Limited knowledge on impact. More research on the impacts of BOT reforms can improve implementation decisions and design choices. Understanding the impact can lead to prioritization an resource allocation for the sustainability of these reforms.
- Data quality. The quality and usability of beneficial ownership registry data is typically poor. Registries are often built on self‑reported information with limited verification, resulting in incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate records. Variations in data definitions and collection practices across agencies and countries reduce comparability and hinder cross‑border cooperation. Weak interoperability with tax, procurement, land, and company registries limits validation and effective use.
- Accessibility. Concerns around privacy and data protection can lead to overly restrictive access regimes within countries. Often, registries are created, but not all relevant agencies are granted access . Domestic exchange of information can be slow, reducing value for enforcement, supervision, and broader policy objectives.
- International cooperation. Information sharing among countries is also difficult. While tax treaties and mutual legal assistance for criminal matters provide avenues for international information exchange, there are no clear avenues for the consistent swift and effective international exchange of information.
Related resources
+ The Puppet Masters (StAR Initiative)
+ Malawi BOT results brief (World Bank)
+ Beneficial Ownership Registers: Implementation Insights and Emerging Frontiers (World Bank)
+ Signatures for Sale: How Nominee Services for Shell Companies Are Abused to Conceal Beneficial Owners (StAR Initiative)
+ Targeted Transparency: Sectoral Approach to Beneficial Ownership in Procurement and Real Estate (IMF)
+ Effective Beneficial Ownership Frameworks Toolkit (OECD)
+ Ending The Shell Game (OECD)
+ Unmasking Control: A Guide To Beneficial Ownership Transparency (IMF)
+ Map: Worldwide Action on Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Open Ownership)
+ Principles for Effective Beneficial Ownership Disclosure (Open Ownership)
+ Guidance on Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons (FATF)
From Compliance to Impact: the case for a Global Hub for Beneficial Ownership Transparency
Blog by Yara Esquivel and Vartika Neeraj
On July 8, 2026, the World Bank and its partners launched the Global Hub for Beneficial Ownership Transparency (GloBOT) – an initiative created to strengthen global coordination, deepen knowledge, and support countries in making beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) work in practice. Representatives from the World Bank, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Open Ownership, donor governments, researchers, and practitioners delivered a shared message. BOT has moved beyond compliance. It is a core development priority - essential to protecting financial integrity, strengthening governance, improving domestic resource mobilization, and rebuilding trust in public institutions and the economies they regulate.
BOT addresses a seemingly simple question: who ultimately owns, controls, or benefits from a legal entity or arrangement? Yet the answer cuts across several policy areas. Anonymous companies and opaque corporate structures can be used to conceal corruption, evade taxes, launder criminal proceeds, facilitate fraud, circumvent sanctions, and undermine fair competition. Reliable beneficial ownership information, by contrast, helps authorities detect illicit activity, improve tax collection, protect procurement systems, strengthen financial supervision, and create a more level playing field for legitimate businesses. Public disclosure of true ownership is especially important when individuals benefit from public resources or are involved in matters of public interest.
As FATF Executive Secretary Violaine Clerc noted during the launch, “Beneficial ownership transparency is not an end in itself. It is a powerful tool to prevent criminals, corrupt actors, and sanctions evaders from abusing legal structures to conceal illicit activity and move illicit proceeds”. Her remarks captured a central message from the event: transparency matters not as a regulatory requirement, but as a tool that enables governments and institutions to safeguard financial integrity and address a wide range of governance challenges.
It is time to move toward effective implementation
Participants agreed that creating a register is only the first step:
- Countries increasingly need systems that deliver accurate, up-to-date information that multiple authorities can use in practice. Success should be measured by whether beneficial ownership information can be accessed, verified, and applied to investigations, asset recovery, tax administration, public procurement oversight, and anticorruption efforts.
- Effective reforms require more than legal changes. They depend on strong coordination among registries, supervisors, financial intelligence units, law enforcement agencies, tax authorities, procurement authorities, civil society and the private sector.
- Countries need to shift from a compliance mindset to a public good mindset. When beneficial ownership reforms are seen only as requirements for meeting international standards, they can appear to be a cost. However, when linked to improved revenue collection, greater procurement integrity, reduced corruption, enhanced financial stability, better investment climates, and increased citizen trust, they become a strategic investment. The next phase of the global agenda should focus on demonstrating these benefits more clearly and measuring their impact more rigorously.
A risk-based approach is essential. Beneficial ownership risks vary widely across countries and sectors, requiring solutions tailored to local threats, institutional capacity, and policy objectives. Countries and technical assistance providers need to move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches and begin with a clear understanding of how concealment works in specific context. Because many countries working on these reforms already face resource constraints, a targeted, risk-based approach is even more important, including through risk assessments that place return on investment at the center of design.
Countries need practical support to move towards effectiveness and impact
Governments are looking for peer lessons, practical examples, and guidance on how to design systems that deliver real results. As Chris Chalmers, Deputy Director of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Illicit Financial Flows Division, observed, “Many countries wish to progress their journey on beneficial ownership transparency. They are looking to learn lessons from each other and to a source of global good practice knowledge on what works.”
GloBOT fills this gap by serving as a repository of global experience, technical expertise, and evidence-based solutions. Hosted by the World Bank and developed with a broad coalition of international organizations and stakeholders, it connects expertise, evidence, implementation experience, and country demand. By bringing together policymakers, registries, supervisors, financial intelligence units, researchers, civil society organizations, and technical assistance providers, the Hub seeks to foster collaboration and accelerate effective reforms. A key priority will be improving coordination among technical assistance providers. As demand for BOT support grows across countries, partly driven by revised standards, providers will need to coordinate more effectively to avoid duplication and maximize reach. This is particularly important as many development partners face tighter resource constraints. GloBOT partners agree on the need to improve transparency around available assistance, reduce duplication, identify comparative advantages, and align support with country priorities.
Beneficial ownership transparency requires all hands on deck
The challenge is no longer just to create registries or pass laws. It is to ensure that registries, supervisors, law enforcement agencies, tax authorities, procurement authorities, civil society, and the private sector work together, each playing a distinct role in turning information into action. GloBOT aims to build a global community of practice that helps countries make transparency a driver of financial integrity, economic growth, accountability, and sustainable development. As countries advance their reform journeys, beneficial ownership transparency can help make governments more effective, markets more transparent, and institutions more resilient. GloBOT’s mission is to help turn this promise into reality.
GloBOT has many plans for the months to come. Among other activities, the Technical Advisory Group will convene for a meeting and the Thematic Working Group on BOT will hold its next meeting soon. To keep those who are interested informed, a GloBOT newsletter will be launched later in the year.
Sign up to receive the newsletter here.
Last Updated: Jul 22, 2026
