The Cayman Islands have joined the UK and many other countries in the fight against corruption and in promoting transparency as they have signed a framework agreement on the sharing of beneficial ownership information.
Under the agreement, Cayman Islands law enforcement officials will be able to obtain details of beneficial ownership of Cayman Islands entity directly from corporate service providers. The information will not be publicly accessible.
Mr McLaughlin argued that the Cayman Islands transparency ranks have been exceeding those of the white-listed jurisdictions already, and once the proposed enhancement is added to the existing system of information collection, the system will allow UK law enforcement agencies to request and access beneficial ownership information more rapidly.
The Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (TIA) issued guidance notes for compliance with the Common Reporting Standards (CRS) on 12 April 2016, confirming that reporting to TIA will begin in 2017 in respect of the 2016 reporting calendar year. The notes indicate that reporting financial institutions must register on TIA’s AEOF portal by the 30
th of April 2017 and submit their first report by 31 May 2017.
To read the full Exchange of notes between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the Cayman Islands in respect of the sharing of beneficial ownership information please
click here.