The Financial Times quoted Baroness Hodge, who has long campaigned for greater transparency in British international finance centres like Jersey and Guernsey, as saying the UK government could consider revisiting the advantages that its dependencies and territories enjoy as leverage in negotiations, or that it could legislate to force their hands.
Ian Gorst, Jersey’s external relations minister, retorted that the way that Jersey ran its register was not a matter for the UK to interfere with.
‘This is not the first time that Baroness Hodge has made such commentary or suggestions, and we disagree with that. The way that Jersey and the other Crown Dependencies hold their beneficial ownership information in their company registers is a wholly domestic matter, and it’s not something for the UK to interfere with,’ he said.
‘We are very firm in our conversations with them, and even in extremis, if they decided to draft an Order in Council, we wouldn’t implement it.
‘This is slightly disappointing, because actually we know that fighting financial crime requires cooperation, and we already co-operate with the UK government in regard to that.’
The islands will provide information to the UK authorities on request, generally within 24 hours but sometimes within the hour.
Deputy Gorst said that system worked well.
Baroness Hodge and UK Justice Minister Jake Richards were in Guernsey on Monday, where they met senior politicians.
The States issued a strongly-worded statement following the meeting, again defending its position on public registers.
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