Beneficial Ownership Update – Crown Dependencies

Today it's been announced that the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey & Isle of Man) will begin a phased approach to making their private beneficial ownership registers public, in line with EU nations' fifth money laundering directive. The policy will increase transparency to help tackle money laundering and financial crime.

The three phases are:

• To interconnect the islands' registers of beneficial ownership of companies with those within the EU for access by law enforcement and Financial Intelligence Units.
• To give access for financial service businesses and other businesses for due diligence purposes.
• To give public access aligned to the approach taken in the EU directive.