Research and analysis

A register of beneficial owners of overseas companies and other legal entities: potential impacts

Research aimed at understanding the potential impacts of the proposed register through qualitative interviews with industry stakeholders.

• From: Department for Business and Trade and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
• Published: 23 July 2018

Documents

A register of beneficial owners of overseas companies and other legal entities

Ref: BEIS Research Paper no. 2018 / 13

PDF, 380 KB, 30 pages

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Details

The UK benefits from foreign direct investment, including in property. However those who invest in the UK property market can use opaque company structures to obscure their identity.

Government has committed to introducing a new register of the beneficial owners of overseas companies owning UK property. This will make it easier for regulators, legitimate businesses and the general public to know who the true owners of UK property are, and enable law enforcement agencies to carry out effective investigations more easily. Not just companies but all overseas ‘legal entities’ will fall within scope of the policy, the term ‘overseas entity’ referring to ‘a non-UK registered body with legal personality that can own property in its own right’.

IFF Research was commissioned by BEIS to undertake interviews with key players involved in the UK property market and the purchasing of UK property and land by overseas entities in order to better understand the potential impacts of the proposed register once introduced.

This research was undertaken to accompany the government consultation:

Draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill

Published 23 July 2018