EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Globally, insufficient data and information about individuals who owned, controlled and benefited from businesses established and incorporated in a particular country derails efforts at fighting against corruption, money laundering, terrorism financing and other forms of financial crimes. Ghana is no
exception. The World Bank estimates that roughly 70% of the biggest corruption cases between 1980 and 2010 involved anonymous companies. In the past few years, Beneficial Ownership regime in Ghana has undergone critical reforms aimed at enhancing transparency and good governance to
curb corruption, illicit financial flows and related activities. BO disclosure is a requirement under most international governance protocols that Ghana has signed up, including FATF, EITI, EU Anti Money
Laundering Directives, GIABA, among other non-protocol commitments.
The disclosure of BO information is expected to strengthen and advance transparency in the true owners of corporate entities that operate or invest in Ghana. Since 2015, the Registrar Generals Department – now the
Office of Registrar of Companies (ORC) – has taken a proactive step and demonstrated their unrelenting effort towards the establishment of a BO register. Consultations of stakeholders began in 2015 where the RGD was selected to be the implementing agency. Whilst the initial consultations centred on the establishment of the register, it also provided extensive education to various
stakeholders, particularly in the mining, oil and gas, banking, insurance, professional bodies and agricultural sectors.
