Mixed results from this year’s CoSP10 to the UNCAC in Atlanta

The dust is settling on the 10th Conference of States Parties (CoSP10) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) that concluded in Atlanta last week.

I was pleased to have supported Open Ownership in several events focused on advancing beneficial ownership transparency, an issue that dominated much of the week.

The global debate on beneficial ownership transparency has moved on a huge amount since the adoption of the UNCAC 20 years ago. Today, States parties’ efforts to address a major enabler of corruption—anonymously owned companies—still are not going far enough. We know not only that anonymously owned companies facilitate corruption, but also that they are the essential infrastructure for financial crime. We need more transparency on the real-life owners of companies if we are to be effective in fighting corruption. This revelation is not new.

Nonetheless, for the first time, this year’s CoSP events included forums for civil society and the private sector. Discussions focused on the global business integrity agenda, while civil society events sought to advance whistleblower protection, gender, and public procurement, some issues that for the first time were the focus of stand-alone resolutions.

There was consensus that openness of registers, cross referencing data with asset registers and procurement, and that beneficial ownership registers should be the start of a push to improve public accountability, not the end.

The Biden Administration took the week’s events as an opportunity to make anti-corruption announcements, including for example, the White House’s summary of its progress on the issue in the past year, a Presidential Proclamation on enablers of corruption, sanctions roll out and visa designations, as well as asset recovery-related efforts. While just yesterday, the United States (US) Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) at long last issued a final rule establishing the framework to implement the Corporate Transparency Act—the US’s beneficial ownership transparency regime.

There is value to the CoSP process. The resolutions might not carry legal weight, but they are important in advancing the global anti-corruption debate, and, in some cases, establishing a framework for follow-up work.

That said, the bottom line from my week in Atlanta is that it is good to see the world come together to find ways to tackle corruption but if revolution is what you are looking for – do not look to CoSP.