Panama Leak Spurs Global Zeal to Crack Shell Companies, But How?
- U.K.'s corporate registry proposal seen lacking transparency
- U.S. called `biggest threat' to curtailing financial secrecy
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The leak of more than 11 million documents known as the Panama Papers lays bare a global ailment: anonymous ownership of shell companies, which enables tax evasion, money laundering, sanctions-dodging and kleptocracy.
Advocates for reform say there’s a simple cure: Make it harder to own companies anonymously. Regulators around the world are already proposing ways to do that -- though many of the measures might not lead to full transparency, while others have insufficient political traction to become law, according to anti-corruption advocates.