British Columbia tightens property beneficial ownership to fight money laundering

British Columbia has taken a major step to prevent money laundering with its proposed registry of beneficial owners of land by lowering the threshold at which shareholders of a property-owning corporation must be disclosed from 25% to 10%. The move comes as Vancouver faces an property price boom, artificially triggered by foreign speculators who bought homes either to let them out or just to accumulate capital gains. For a relevant partnership or relevant trust, all partners and beneficiaries with a direct or indirect interest in the property must be identified in the report. For a re...