Beneficial ownership (BO) registers have been introduced in over 100 countries to curb corruption and financial crime, yet the quality and completeness of these datasets vary across jurisdictions. This paper argues that missing, incomplete, or inaccessible BO information is not simply a data limitation but a meaningful governance signal. By examining five countries: Denmark, Estonia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and the UK, the study investigates how patterns of data absence can reveal institutional weaknesses, non-compliance, and patterns of financial secrecy, money laundering and corruption schemes. The analysis combines three components: (1) a comparative assessment of BO legal frameworks and enforcement mechanisms; (2) an empirical analysis of missing data patterns within national registers; and (3) qualitative interviews with regulators, financial intelligence units, and private-sector verification actors. Together, these methods show how legal design, administrative capacity, and political incentives shape the quality and reliability of transparency reforms. The findings show that structural deficiencies, including inconsistent verification, weak sanctions, and fragmented oversight, produce identifiable “signatures of risk” in BO datasets. External pressures such as FATF recommendations, EU directives and civil-society advocacy influence the data quality, but substantial gaps persist, enabling illicit networks to hide ownership structures. By conceptualizing missing BO data as an object of analysis rather than a methodological obstacle, the paper advances a novel approach to studying financial crime risks. The results offer actionable insights for policymakers and international organizations seeking to strengthen transparency infrastructures and evaluate the effectiveness of anti-corruption reforms.

Authors:
Irene Tello Arista, Central European University, Austria

About the Presenter(s)
Irene Tello Arista is currently a PhD researcher on anti-corruption, beneficial ownership, and gender. She is also a columnist for El Universal and a member at Action4Justice

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/itelloarista/

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