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Putting an end to snow-washing: The case for a publicly accessible corporate registry of beneficial owners in Canada
Journal of Financial Compliance,
4
(4),
379-390
(2021)
Abstract
The term ’snow-washing’ was discovered by Toronto Star and CBC journalists investigating the 2016 Panama Papers. The term allegedly comes from the intermediaries at Mossack-Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers, where they essentially sold Canada with the idea of bringing dirty money to Canada and it will be cleaned like the pure white snow; hence, ’snow-washing’ entered the Canadian anti-money laundering (AML) lexicon. This reputation came about because Canada has a weak corporate transparency regime, with exceptionally little beneficial ownership reporting and AML enforcement. Canada’s beneficial ownership gaps have been known and reported by international organisations for some time. There have been a number of AML updates in Canadian regulations in preparation of the 2021 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) peer review, but as of writing, the largest piece of the enforcement puzzle has been whether a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry will be implemented. In this paper, we argue why a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry is a critical tool that Canada can implement to end snow-washing. To make the case for a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry, we will discuss the background of Canada’s beneficial ownership regime; global trends and findings on beneficial ownership registries and how Canada can navigate the challenges of implementing such a registry in a federated country as well as balance privacy concerns.
Keywords: beneficial ownership; antimoney laundering; public beneficial ownership registry; Canada; Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA)
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
James Cohen is an anticorruption expert with a background in international development and security. Prior to becoming Executive Director of Transparency International (TI) Canada, James’s work included programme management and design, training, research and fundraising for organisations including the United States Institute of Peace, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, the Global Organization for Parliamentarians against Corruption and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. James also worked for Transparency International’s Defence and Security Programme from 2011 to 2013, where he focused on corruption risk to military, police and peacekeeping, as well as advising governments and civil society, including TI chapters. James joined TI Canada in 2016 as Interim Executive Director and held the post of Director, Programmes and Engagement, before becoming Executive Director. James holds a Masters from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, and a Bachelor of Social Science in Political Science from the University of Ottawa.
Sasha Caldera is currently the Beneficial Ownership Transparency Campaign Manager at Publish What You Pay Canada. Since 2017, Sasha has been managing a national coalition advocacy effort for Canada to create a publicly accessible corporate registry of beneficial owners. Sasha regularly prepares technical submissions and presents findings to various governments in Canada. He also manages relationships with federal, provincial and territorial decision makers. Sasha brings years of government relations and advocacy campaign experience including legislative victories in his previous role with Engineers Without Borders Canada. Sasha holds a BA from Simon Fraser University and an MA from Royal Roads University. Sasha’s commentary can be found in the Globe & Mail, the Toronto Star, Devex, the CBC podcast ’SOLD’ and Global News Radio.
