Jersey concluded a three-month consultation exercise about extending access to those with a ‘legitimate interest’ at the end of January.
The issue has been high-profile among some UK Parliamentarians for years and was raised again last month in written questions to the Home Office from Green Party peer Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle.
She asked what steps the UK government was taking to prevent the use of Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories as ‘safe havens for ultra-high net worth individuals with significant political exposure’ and how it was ‘enforcing any preventative efforts’.
Home Office minister Lord Hanson said that while recognising the self-governing status of the jurisdictions, the government was committed to working with the islands to tackle corruption and prevent money laundering, and to ‘strengthen their approaches to beneficial ownership transparency’.
‘The government’s ultimate expectation remains the introduction of publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership registers,’ he said, ‘however, the steps they are taking to implement legitimate interest access to their registers are welcome.’
He said that the issue ‘remains a priority’ for the UK.
States external relations lead Steve Falla said that ‘we are at the forefront of beneficial ownership transparency, as concluded by Moneyval when they awarded us a rating only achieved by a few jurisdictions in the world, in respect of this standard’.
The local approach is that the island shares the objective of the UK to combat financial crime and supports transparency while balancing appropriate privacy rights.
The States has described ongoing negotiations with the UK as ‘respectful, collaborative dialogues to learn from each other’s approaches and to achieve shared goals’.
‘The island is evolving its approach to beneficial ownership information in line with international developments, and this includes having implemented “obliged entity” access to beneficial ownership information last year and having taken the matter of “legitimate interest” access to the States in the same year.
‘Guernsey’s register of beneficial ownership information is shared effectively and swiftly with international law enforcement and tax authorities.’
Jersey’s consultation maintained its position, also held by the other Crown Dependencies, which takes on board privacy concerns, and has concluded that granting unlimited public access to its beneficial ownership register would not be compatible with its international obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights or with domestic laws.
It has revised its policy to refocus on a legitimate interest-based access policy.
‘There is no single solution to achieving transparency,’ said the Government of Jersey.
‘It involves more than simply making information available to anybody. It requires a comprehensive and responsible approach to ensure that accurate information is collected, maintained, and made accessible to those who need it to prevent and detect financial crime.
‘Increasing access to information to certain categories of person can support efforts to tackle illicit finance, but it cannot come at the expense of an individual’s fundamental right to privacy.’