The anti-corruption campaign group says that Britain's failure to regulate operators of shell companies could lead to criminals hiding their ill-gotten assets in the capital.

Other jurisdictions have already clamped down on anonymous corporate entities and trusts that can be used as vehicles for fraud and money laundering, by introducing legislation to regulate the service providers that set them up.

But Britain has left the sector unsupervised, potentially opening the door to unscrupulous operators of the shell companies.

Official estimates indicate that £25bn is laundered through the UK every year.