UK praises islands for sharing beneficial ownership information

The written response from Home Department minister Dan Jarvis to a question from newly-elected Labour MP Lloyd Hatton followed confirmation from the new UK administration that it would still be pursuing greater transparency in beneficial ownership in the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, including attempts to open the registers to public scrutiny.

Mr Jarvis said: ‘UK Law Enforcement Agencies have reported that the arrangements continue to add value by supporting complex investigations into the financial affairs of individuals believed to be involved in serious and organised crime.’

The exchange arrangements came into effect in 2016.

The local authorities have to respond to requests for information from law enforcement agencies within 24 hours, or sometimes within the hour, and this is generally satisfied.

‘Guernsey welcomes the continued recognition from UK law enforcement authorities about the effectiveness and timeliness of our arrangements in sharing beneficial ownership information,’ said Policy & Resources Committee president Lyndon Trott.

‘Importantly, the nature of Guernsey’s beneficial ownership register means the data provided by Guernsey is checked and validated, reliable and up-to-date, which will undoubtedly be key when any such investigations take place.’

Mr Hatton asked how many times ‘exchange of notes’ arrangements had been used in economic crime investigations in the past 12 months.

Mr Jarvis was unable to answer, but said that the performance of the arrangement was subject to an annual internal review.

Information on the process was last published in 2019, covering the effectiveness of the first 18 months of the exchange arrangements.

It found that there were an average of four requests that were made a week across the jurisdictions, and it was working effectively.

Gavin St Pier, former Treasury minister and Policy & Resources president, said he expected that Dame Margaret Hodge and Andrew Mitchell MP, now the Shadow Foreign Secretary, would maintain their interest in this topic during the new political term.

The Crown Dependencies remain committed to introducing ‘obliged entity’ access to local registers this year, opening up further to include financial services businesses required to conduct due diligence, and to give access to those with a ‘legitimate interest’, which has not been clearly defined.

‘The commitment, when it comes, will almost certainly not go as far as the UK would like in their ideal world,’ Deputy St Pier said in his column in the Jersey Evening Post.

‘New government or old, this issue remains unresolved and it isn’t going away.’