Global Forum releases new peer review reports on transparency and exchange of information on request for Armenia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Egypt, Georgia, Kenya, Malta and Romania

Armenia’s first assessment since it joined the Global Forum in 2015 is limited to a review of its legal and regulatory framework for EOIR (Phase 1 of the peer review process). The report’s findings show that Armenia has a legal and regulatory framework that broadly ensures the availability of, access to, and exchange of relevant information for tax purposes. However, improvements are required on the availability of legal and beneficial ownership information on relevant legal persons, legal arrangements and bank accounts. Recommendations were also issued concerning the availability of accounting records, as well as with respect to the tax administration's access powers, which may be limited by the broad scope of professional privileges. Armenia’s implementation of the legal and regulatory framework in practice will be reviewed, and an overall rating assigned, in the Phase 2 review scheduled to take place later this year. Access the report

Bulgaria maintains the “Largely Compliant” overall rating issued in its first peer review published in 2016 and the new report acknowledges progress made since then, in particular by prohibiting the issuance of bearer shares, by requiring the registration of trustees of foreign trusts and by reinforcing the measures to monitor and ensure the availability of legal ownership information in practice. The report underlines Bulgaria’s advances on the availability of beneficial ownership information, including through the creation of dedicated registers. It notes, however, that effective supervision and enforcement is required to ensure the availability of beneficial ownership information in line with the EOIR standard. Supervision and enforcement should also be enhanced regarding accounting information. Specific recommendations on particular aspects were issued, including for entities declared as inactive, and for keeping accounting information when entities cease to exist. Finally, the report highlights Bulgaria’s improvements in exchanging information with partners in a timely manner. Access the report

Cameroon keeps the “Largely Compliant” overall rating assigned in its first round review published in 2016. The new peer review report highlights progress made to ensure the availability of ownership information, including through the recent establishment of a central register of beneficial owners managed by the tax administration. This register is however not fully operational and Cameroon should therefore ensure that these new tax requirements are effectively implemented and supervised. Cameroon should also address the issue of companies not registered with the tax administration and of some inactive companies, for which up-to-date information may not always be available. While Cameroon has appropriate access powers and EOI network, as well as a dedicated unit for the treatment of requests for information, the exchange of information was not fully effective in practice due to long response times, partly explained by the lack of resources in the dedicated unit during the review period. Access the report in English (version française)

Egypt joined the Global Forum in 2016 and has undergone its first EOIR peer review. It was rated “Partially Compliant” with the standard. The report recognises efforts made by Egyptian authorities to comply with the standard, including through prohibiting the issuance of bearer shares, introducing new requirements to submit beneficial ownership information to the commercial registry and, very importantly, lifting of bank secrecy for the purposes of exchange of information. Nevertheless, significant improvements are needed on the implementation of beneficial ownership requirements, especially where such information is to be submitted to the registry. All through the three-year review period, Egypt’s compliance with the standard was significantly affected by the existence of bank secrecy that prevented partners from getting the requested information. In addition, the EOI function suffered from important organisational and resource issues that led to unsatisfactory performance in respect to the timeliness of the exchange of information. Since lifting the bank secrecy for EOI purposes in December 2022, Egypt has started exchanging banking information with its treaty partners and has also shown improvements in effective exchange of information. Access the report

Georgia maintains the “Largely Compliant” overall rating from its previous peer review published in 2016. The latest review details improvements made by Georgia on access to banking information and creating exceptions to professional secrecy accorded to lawyers and accountants, thus enabling access to beneficial ownership information maintained by these professionals. Georgia’s legal and regulatory framework is generally in place to ensure the availability of legal ownership, accounting and banking information. Further improvement is however needed to ensure the availability of beneficial ownership information, which is only available through anti-money laundering obligations – although such obligations do not cover all relevant legal persons and arrangements. The report also finds that, apart from the banking and insurance sectors, other categories of non-business professions that could be a source of beneficial ownership information are not well supervised. Additionally, improvements are required to ensure the timeliness of responses to Georgia’s exchange partners. Access the report

Kenya has strengthened its implementation of the EOIR standard, improving its handling of requests and expanding its network of EOI relationships since its first peer review published in 2016. While its legal framework ensures the availability of banking information, there is room for improvement on the supervision of banks’ compliance with customer due diligence obligations. Kenya relies on the tax framework for the availability of accounting information, which would be reinforced by better supervision of accounting obligations by the companies’ regulator. The companies’ regulator should expand its efforts to ensure the availability of beneficial ownership information on the entities it supervises, including making use of the improved powers and sanctions recently introduced in Kenya’s law. These enhancements should also be applied to identify and address the large number of registered companies that appear to be inactive and defunct. The 2024 peer review rates Kenya as “Largely Compliant” with the EOIR standard, as was the case in its previous assessment. Access the report

Malta achieves a significant milestone by improving its practice of EOIR from the "Partially Compliant" rating issued in its last peer review in 2020, to "Largely Compliant" in the latest peer review published today. This satisfactory rating reflects Malta's efforts in enhancing its transparency framework, and particularly in addressing the challenge of inactive companies and strengthening its supervisory functions. While these strides mark considerable progress, there is still room for improvement in supervision to ensure complete alignment with the EOIR standard. A noteworthy development is the establishment of a register of beneficial owners. However, the report notes that limiting identification and filing requirements to companies with non-individual shareholders may affect the accuracy of the information in the register. The review presents recommendations designed to guide Malta in refining its approach and ensuring robust compliance with the EOIR standard. Access the report

Romania has made important progress in exchanging information in a timely manner since its last peer review published in 2016. The new peer review report acknowledges advances made in ensuring the availability of ownership information, including through setting up beneficial ownership registers. It notes, however, that supervision and enforcement should be enhanced generally, to ensure the availability of beneficial ownership, accounting and banking information in line with the EOIR standard. The report also makes specific recommendations for particular circumstances, e.g. when nominee arrangements appear within a company’s ownership structure, when entities are declared as inactive, when entities, including banks, cease to exist, and when foreign trusts are administered from Romania or have trustees tax resident in Romania. Overall, the latest peer review assesses Romania as “Largely Compliant” against the EOIR standard. Access the report