Title proposal: How we persuaded the British government to release information on beneficial ownership company as data, and what we’re now planning to do with it.

Biography: Robert Palmer is the Banks and Corruption Campaign Leader for Global Witness, a Nobel-prize nominated organisation dedicated to breaking the links between natural resources, conflict and corruption. He focuses on how the financial system facilitates corruption and other crimes. Robert has led a number of high profile investigations, including organising an undercover sting to show how corrupt officials can move suspect funds into the U.S. with the help of New York lawyers. Robert is an expert in the global anti-money laundering framework and helps to develop practical policy solutions to improve its effectiveness. He helps to lead a global coalition of civil society groups campaigning for an end to the abuse of the financial system by corrupt officials. This has led to new transparency laws in the UK and EU to tackle anonymously owned companies. The first set of information under these laws has been published in the UK as open data, and Robert is coordinating a data project based on the new information.