Luxembourg has approved a further delay for companies to register their beneficial ownership details after 53% of affected entities failed to do so by the initial deadline.
More than 68,000 companies had not provided the required information by the August 31 deadline and they have now been given a further three months, according to the Luxembourg Times. Non-compliance can incur fines ranging from $1,370 (1,250 euros) to $1.37 million (1.25 million euros).
The latest delay means that the country has cast itself further adrift of the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which required all EU member states to compile publicly available registers by June 2017 as a key component in combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
In November 2018, the European Commission referred Luxembourg to the European Court of Justice for its failure to fully implement the new laws designed to enhance transparency.
