UK unimpressed by islands’ slow progress on public registers
GUERNSEY, Jersey and the Isle of Man have been criticised by a Home Office minister for the pace at which they are moving towards public registers of beneficial ownership.
Last week the Crown Dependencies announced their joint next step forward in developing the commitment demanded by the UK of publicly-accessible registers of who owns companies in the islands.
But in a written statement published yesterday, Home Office minister Thomas Tugendhat indicated that the government was unimpressed.
The Crown Dependencies have pledged to open up to those who can demonstrate ‘a legitimate interest’ and proposals are set to go before the States by the end of next year.
‘Given the original commitments [from the Crown Dependencies] were made in 2019, and the increasing use of finance to coordinate action against the interests of the British people and the wider British family, this is not the pace that I expect,’ Mr Tugendhat said.
‘I urge the CDs to work as quickly as possible next year to implement these commitments. Parliament will wish to consider these commitments and closely monitor the situation.’
The UK has a publicly accessible register but local experts criticise the quality of the information available on it.
Mr Tugendhat said that legitimate interest access would bring the CDs into line with the EU, and said that making such a move would be ‘a very significant step forward’ for the islands, though the UK government remained committed to publicly accessible registers becoming the global norm and believed that the islands could follow suit.
The Crown Dependencies have been in discussions with the UK government over access to beneficial ownership information, but the extent of legitimate interest to media and civil society organisations involved in the fight against illicit finance appear to be a sticking point.
