Global report demands better data sharing to fight financial crime

A new global report highlights the urgent need for better cross-border data sharing to combat financial crime. Fragmented systems currently prevent effective tracking of ownership chains, allowing corruption to thrive undetected. The findings underline interoperability as the key to strengthening global efforts against illicit financial flows. Anonymously owned companies facilitate most major cross-border corruption cases. Over 100 countries already hold data that could expose these networks, but current beneficial ownership systems are mostly designed for domestic use. This makes it difficult to trace ownership across multiple jurisdictions.

The Taskforce has proposed a roadmap to improve cross-border data use. This includes better access to information, common data standards, and machine-readable sharing. Without these changes, stakeholders struggle to identify links between entities, trace full ownership structures, or conduct thorough due diligence.

Practical solutions suggested include international search platforms, coordinated data exchange between authorities, and standardised national datasets. These models aim to make ownership information accessible, consistent, and usable at a global scale. Interoperable ownership data will strengthen financial integrity and improve public sector accountability. It will also support more effective anti-corruption and enforcement efforts worldwide. The report stresses that without these improvements, efforts to tackle cross-border financial crime will remain limited.