UK’s Overseas Territories to Introduce Public Ownership Registers
On 1 of May, the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill was passed in the UK Parliament with an amendment that would require UK Overseas Territories to introduce publicly-accessible registers of companies’ ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs).
The amendment will require UK overseas territories to introduce public registers listing the beneficial owners of local companies registered in the jurisdiction by the end of 2020. The UK Government will impose a public register in any territory that fails to establish one by 31 December 2020.
This relates to all the Overseas Territories: Bermuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos, Gibraltar, and also Cayman and the BVI. The Crown Dependencies, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, are not covered by this Bill.
The British Overseas Territories have already adopted the Common Reporting Standard/Automatic Exchange of Information regime relating to tax compliance and have developed systems to record beneficial ownership information for use by law enforcement agencies. To date, the Overseas Territories have resisted calls for public disclosure of beneficial ownership information on the basis that the existing arrangements facilitate effective exchange of tax information and contain safeguards to prevent the use of companies for money laundering and other criminal purposes.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Alina Moroz at alinam@zetland.biz.
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