Law to curb anonymous companies is enacted in US

The US Congress has passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a wide-ranging legislation that includes a clause viewed as a major step forward in the fight against illicit trade.

The Corporate Transparency Act is designed to end the incorporation of anonymous shell companies, which proponents say will make it harder for criminals to launder their profits and escape detection.

“After more than a decade-long campaign to end the formation of anonymous shell companies that are abused by the criminal and the corrupt, the US has enacted historic reforms to protect Americans and our financial system from abuse,” said the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, which led the lobbying effort to get the legislation onto the statute.

The NDAA also includes other initiatives that can curb money laundering, including requiring banks to generate reports of suspicious transaction activity in real time and allowing them to share those reports with foreign affiliates (outside China, Russia, and certain other jurisdictions).

President Donald Trump vetoed the package, but Congress voted to override that veto – for the first time during his presidency.