The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has signed a data sharing agreement (DSA) on beneficial ownership of companies with several government agencies as part of its fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. The Commission signed the DSA on Beneficial Ownership Information with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). The DSA will allow the SEC to give timely access to accurate and adequate beneficial ownership information to competent authorities, in line with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The FATF is an intergovernmental money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog that sets international standards to prevent such illegal activities. The SEC collects beneficial ownership information from its regulated entities through SEC Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 15, Series of 2019, which amended the General Information Sheet (GIS) to include beneficial ownership information. In 2020, the Commission issued SEC MC No. 30, Series of 2020, expanding the collection of beneficial ownership data to foreign corporations. The Commission also issued in 2021 SEC MC No. 1, Series of 2021, providing the Guidelines in Preventing the Misuse of Corporations for Illicit Activities through Measures Designed to Promote Transparency. In 2022, the SEC promulgated SEC MC No. 10, Series of 2022, increasing the penalties and imposing additional non-financial penalties for non-disclosure and false disclosure of beneficial ownership information, among others. Information gathered by the Commission through the aforementioned circulars play a vital role in identifying the natural person/s maintaining ultimate effective control of the corporation. Beneficial owners of a corporation are distinguished from legal owners, which are defined as natural or juridical persons who, in accordance with the law, owns or has the controlling ownership interest over the corporation, or has the ability of taking relevant decisions within the corporation and imposing those resolutions. The DSA also seeks to protect personal and sensitive personal data by incorporating measures provided under Republic Act No. 10173, or the Data Privacy Act of 2012, and its implementing rules and regulations, as well as the pertinent circular issued by the National Privacy Commission Circular on data sharing between government agencies.