Tag: beneficial ownership
Bills passed to improve BO disclosure regime
(CNS): Financial Services Minister André Ebanks has steered several bills through parliament, including a stand-alone Beneficial Transparency Ownership Act to improve the current regime on how information relating to who benefits from financial entities registered here is shared and to stay ahead of changing standards and rules. Explaining the law during last week’s special parliamentary […]
BO access won’t be public yet under new bill
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government has rolled out another piece of legislation to enhance its anti-money laundering regime. However, the Beneficial Ownership Transparency Bill only improves access for law enforcement and relevant agencies, not the public. While the bill has provisions to allow public access in future, officials said that will not happen before Cayman […]
Financial crime talking shop emerges from JMC
(CNS): Later this year, the British Virgin Islands will host the inaugural annual meeting between the United Kingdom and its overseas territories to discuss tackling illicit finance. This new “ministerial-level annual dialogue” emerged from this year’s UKOT Joint Ministerial Council meeting, held in London last week, and aims to defend financial systems against illicit actors, […]
EU court ruling may scupper public BO registers
(CNS): A recent ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) may have implications here in the Cayman Islands as the authorities prepare legislation to pave the way for public beneficial ownership registers for offshore entities. The court found that the idea of a public beneficial ownership register to prevent money laundering constitutes a serious interference […]
BO law under review ahead of public register
(CNS): The public is being invited to comment on the government’s proposals to reshape the Cayman Islands’ beneficial ownership legislation into a single law to make it more effective in fighting crime and to pave the way to meet the forthcoming changes to the regime, which is expected to lift the lid on who really […]
Registrar fines companies not revealing owners
(CNS) The Registrar of Companies (RoC) has begun fining companies registered here that have failed to submit accurate information on their ultimate beneficiaries (beneficial owners) and ignored warning letters to do so, according to the Ministry of Financial Services. As of 1 February, the RoC had levied 19 administrative fines of $5,000 against companies for […]
UK drafts public BO order but happy with status quo
(CNS): The UK government has now drafted an order-in-council regarding the introduction of public registers of beneficial ownership in the overseas territories. But foreign office minister Wendy Morton said in a written statement to the UK parliament recently that, given the commitments made by all the UK Overseas Territories, there is no need to enact […]
UK confirms OTs have till 2023 to make BOs public
(CNS): Before the end of this year Britain’s overseas territories minister will be issuing an order-in-council in line with the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act passed in the UK parliament in 2018, but the territories still have until 2023 to make their beneficial ownership registers public. In a written statement issued on Thursday, Baroness Sugg […]
Cayman commits to public BO registers
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government has confirmed it will introduce the controversial public register showing the beneficial owners of all financial entities domiciled in this jurisdiction by 2023, in line with the emergence of these registers across Europe, officials said. The issue caused considerable controversy when the UK parliament passed an amended bill in May […]
Minister lobbies US officials
(CNS): Financial Services Minister Tara Rivers continued her efforts to “dispel harmful myths about the Cayman Islands” last week with another trip to Washington DC. Rivers met with Justin Muzinich, the deputy secretary of the US Treasury, as well as US senators, members of Congress, senior Congressional staff, and other federal agency officials to lobby […]
FCO not setting dates on sensitive OT issues
(CNS): The UK does not plan to implement orders-in council to force same-sex marriage laws on its overseas territories or to push them into allowing British and British Overseas Territory citizens to be able to vote and hold elected office in these territories. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s response to a report by the UK […]
