The BVI’s company register plans ‘not compatible’ with global transparency efforts, warn anti-corruption campaigners

Transparency International UK have criticised new proposals from the British Virgin Islands for restrictive proposals to manage access to the islands company registry.  

Though the new plans simplify the definition of legitimate interest, major concerns remain around tipping-off clauses. The proposed approach would see kleptocrats and oligarchs alerted whenever journalists and NGOs request access to information about their companies – and give them a chance to object to their data being released.  
 
The concerns come as the BVI publishes its policy for access to the extensive registry of companies based within the islands. The BVI has the largest company registry in the UK’s Overseas Territories, with almost ten companies for every inhabitant. 
 

Margot Mollat, Senior Research and Policy Manager at Transparency International UK said:  

“The BVI’s proposed access regime is not compatible with global corporate transparency efforts. Genuine beneficial ownership disclosure should empower investigators to detect suspicious activity and expose corruption—not create bureaucratic barriers that protect those with something to hide. 

“Most alarmingly, the policy of notifying company owners when their information is accessed puts journalists and civil society actors at serious risk of retaliation and legal intimidation. This isn’t transparency; it’s a system that will frustrate scrutiny and protect dirty money. 

“If the BVI remains unable or unwilling to implement meaningful access, the UK Government should consider all its options to ensure that it does.” 

Corporate secrecy provided by the BVI’s financial services sectors has long provided cover for high-level corruption, money laundering and sanctions evasion and experts warn the islands’ proposals do little to improve transparency. 

Earlier this month concerns about the BVI’s efforts to tackle corruption were raised by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) who placed the island on its ‘grey list’ of jurisdictions that need assistance and close monitoring for strategic money laundering deficiencies.

• In December 2024, the British Virgin Islands consulted on their approach to legitimate interest access to their beneficial ownership register. Our detailed response can be found here.
• Despite calls from civil society organisations and UK MPs asking for the BVI to completely reconsider its approach, the final policy statements makes minor tweaks to the original document.
• At the time, Andrew Mitchell MP, a former development minister and deputy foreign secretary, called the proposal a “shameful attempt to avoid crackdown on financial crime” and said the BVI proposals showed “total contempt for the British parliament’s declared insistence that open registers of beneficial ownership be implemented throughout our overseas territories.
• Changes to the final document include: 

• Simplifies the definition of legitimate interest so that users who can demonstrate a legitimate interest under one or more of the following circumstances in connection with the investigation, prevention or detection of suspected activity involving money laundering, terrorist financing and/or proliferation financing can access data. This is an improvement on the previous version which only made data available to them if they were involved in criminal proceedings. 

• Making it clear that legitimate interest applicants may not already know the name of the beneficial owner of the entity they are inquiring about. 

• Adds grounds on which beneficial owners may object to their information being released to legitimate interest users. Unfortunately, the grounds include vague terms such as
• “a statement that the disclosure of the particulars of beneficial ownership information will or is likely to raise or affect issues of national security, whether in the Virgin Islands or elsewhere”
• “a factual statement that the request is of such a nature that the Registrar should consider that it is not in the public interest for him or her to accede to the request”
• Adds requirement to provide supporting evidence when objecting to your data being released: “Documents or other materials supporting the objection (e.g., police reports, geographical location of beneficial owner where kidnapping may be prevalent, legal notices, or affidavits evidencing their reasonable belief and identifying the individual(s) at risk, where applicable; birth certificate or medical report of minor or individual lacking legal capacity; a report or other written communication from the National Security Council regarding an objection on the ground of national security).”
• In addition to allowing beneficial owners to object to their data being removed, the policy statement includes a new clause which allows beneficial owners to apply for an exemption from having their information disclosed to legitimate interest users. 

• In November 2024, Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands committed during the Joint Ministerial Council to 'implement Legitimate Interest Access Registers of Beneficial Ownership with the maximum possible degree of access and transparency'. 

• Our 2018 research uncovered that BVI companies had been implicated in over 213 cases of grand corruption and money laundering globally, resulting in hundreds of billions of economic damage. Interestingly, this money seldom remains in the BVI; we also found that £5.5 billion of suspicious funds were funnelled into UK property through BVI entities.