The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), together with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Open Ownership, trained 45 Philippine investigators on using beneficial ownership data to trace assets and identify the people behind complex corporate structures.

The training ran from August 4 to 6 in Pasig City, organised by UNODC and Open Ownership in cooperation with the SEC’s Anti-Money Laundering Division.

Participants included financial intelligence analysts, regulators and anti-corruption prosecutors from the SEC, the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

A delegation from Papua New Guinea also joined for a regional exchange on tracing concealed ownership and hidden assets.

Participants worked through simulated cases involving concealed ownership and the tracing of suspected illicit assets.

The SEC presented its operational framework for beneficial ownership transparency, including HARBOR, the Hierarchical and Applicable Relations and Beneficial Ownership Registry.

They received guided demonstrations on using HARBOR and other investigative tools to identify ownership and control relationships.

The training builds on the Philippines’ broader beneficial ownership transparency push, part of the reforms that helped the country exit the FATF grey list in February 2025, according to InsiderPH’s coverage of HARBOR’s launch.

The workshop concluded with participants setting specific commitments for applying beneficial ownership information in their roles.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Philippines based on an image by the Securities and Exchange Commission via its website.