Transparency campaigners urged progress on the introduction of publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership as the government have announced new timetables for implementation in Britain’s Overseas Territories (OTs)[1].

Responding to the ministerial update, Rose Zussman, Senior Advocacy Manager, Transparency International UK said:

“These commitments offer welcome, if overdue, clarity about what steps will be taken to confront the criminal use of shell companies in Britain's offshore financial centres. Five years after the UK Parliament legislated for the introduction of public registers in the Overseas Territories, patience for progress has worn thin.

“All eyes are now on places like the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands to deliver on these promises once and for all. Their company registers should enable full and free access, not limited to individual entries, to ensure civil society and journalists can play their crucial role in identifying shell company networks and preventing the criminal and corrupt laundering the proceeds of their crimes.”

The commitments from Britain’s OTs are in line with the draft Order in Council issued in response to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2018.

In 2020, the UK government set out their expectation that the Territories would implement registers by the end of 2023.

ENDS

Notes to editors

[1] Update on the Implementation of Publicly Accessible Registers of Beneficial Ownership in the Overseas Territories https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-12-18/hcws150