Dr. Jim Stewart:

The proposal by Thomas Piketty and others that there should be a European register is a good one. The problem is that it may be very difficult to implement. Different countries have different regulatory and disclosure requirements for companies. There might be all sorts of difficulties in making those comparable. There is still the issue of who is the beneficial owner. If somebody is rich enough and has enough resources to disguise the beneficial owner, he or she can do so. We saw that in recent media reports of the attempts to seize the yachts of various oligarchs. Those are very visible assets and yet there have been difficulties with seizing them and establishing ownership. The ownership of those yachts can change overnight. It is a tricky issue and involves a considerable pooling of information at a European level. That requires a lot of money. It must be resourced and investigated properly.