Transparency

MBC has developed considerable expertise in advising governments, state-owned companies and private corporations on transparency issues in the extractive industries (oil, gas and mining) sector and the wider economy. MBC has experience supporting implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as well as transparency initiatives globally. 

MBC has delivered EITI projects in Albania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Trinidad & Tobago.   MBC has also delivered projects on beneficial ownership in Azerbaijan, China and Ghana as well as contributing to a British government paper on achieving a global norm of beneficial ownership transparency. 

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Beneficial Ownership

MBC in collaboration with Engaged Consulting has developed a bespoke framework for implementing beneficial ownership reporting regimes, known as BO⁶.  This is a six stage framework with a strong communication element running through it.  The framework is based on the extensive combined experience of the two firms in implementing beneficial ownership projects on four different continents.

Beneficial ownership refers to natural persons who directly or indirectly ultimately own and derive financial benefit from a company or commercial activity. There is no single global standard of beneficial ownership transparency.

Beneficial ownership is an important element in building trust and confidence in the integrity of the business environment for citizens, government, companies and providers of finance, both domestic and international. The demand for increased transparency from international investors, finance providers and other stakeholders is growing. At the same time, there is more focus on the beneficial ownership of companies globally as governments seek to build trust and clamp down on tax evasion, corruption and money laundering. There is a global trend towards transparency of the beneficial owners of companies. As governments seek investment, they will want to meet the expectations of greater transparency, including of the beneficial owners of companies operating in their economies. Governments are in competition with each other to attract investment and countries that offer more transparency are likely to be more successful in doing so, especially in the new post-Covid environment.