Compliance has become a financial and reputational consideration for multinationals.

The report – Conquering the complexity of local and global compliance – contains extra company secretarial information from TMF Group's original Global Business Complexity Index 2019. Here's a snapshot of the increasing compliance challenges that multinationals face.

Incorporation complexity

Many factors influence the relative ease or difficulty of legal entity setup in a new jurisdiction – specific industries, technologies and the number of authorities involved in the process.

What is the most challenging region for company and corporate secretaries?

Ownership and transparency

Company ownership and compliance liability is under increasing scrutiny from international regulators. The Ultimate Beneficial Owner register operates in 64% of global jurisdictions – but only four in APAC.

% of jurisdictions where ultimate beneficial owners must be listed on a public register

At the same time, multinationals must adhere to the rules and regulations of jurisdictional governments on ownership and liability.

Do you know where private company directors are always personally liable for non-compliance?

Increased workload

Our research shows – unsurprisingly – that company secretary duties are predicted to increase across the world as compliance demands on multinationals continue to grow.

Where will company secretaries take on added responsibilities in the next five years?

How to keep up

International compliance legislation is taking hold and many borders are becoming more porous. But multinationals must still grapple with local differences in each of their operating jurisdictions.

How do you resource local compliance requirements without draining management time or budgets?

Partner with company secretarial experts that can oversee global and local compliance in 80+ jurisdictions, delivering a wealth of expertise that would be uneconomical to sustain in-house.

Download Conquering the complexity of local and global compliance - extra company secretarial information from TMF Group's original Global Business Complexity Index 2019. Or contact us today.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.