The Cayman Ministry of Financial Services has launched a consultation on the changes needed to enable public access to beneficial ownership information.
In October 2019, the Cayman Islands Government said it would introduce publicly accessible registers according to a timeline that reflects the development and evolution of public registers in the UK and the EU. At the time, the Government said that it will refine and improve legislation and build the technological systems needed to enable public access to the information. The newly launched consultation seeks input on that work.
In 2019, the Cayman Government said, anticipating that registers will be publicly available in EU member states by 2023, the Government will introduce legislation „when that occurs.“ The UK Government has said it expects all Overseas Territories to have publicly accessible registers in place by the end of 2023.
In the new consultation, which will run until October 4, the Cayman Government said substantial changes will be needed to the Companies Act, the Limited Liability Companies Act, the Limited Liability Partnership Act, related Regulations, and also consequential amendments to other pieces of legislation, as well as significant changes to systems and processes.
The consultation considers changes needed not only to make beneficial ownership information available publicly but to expand the scope of reporting to include exempted limited partnerships and limited partnerships.
