The UK government has been consistently encouraged to take action against the Crown Dependencies on financial secrecy and lack of transparency about the ownership of corporate structures registered locally.
Yesterday at the British-Irish Council summit, Policy & Resources president Lindsay de Sausmarez said that during she had a conversation with the UK government about it.
‘We are pleased to be able to confirm that we are looking to bring forward a policy letter before the end of the year on that subject,’ she said at the press conference at the end of the summit.
‘It’s something that we’ve had many conversations with, both with the UK government and other Crown Dependencies, and we’re pleased to be able to report progress on that topic.’
MP and chief secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said that transparency was important in such situations, but admitted that there was also more that needed to be done by the UK, an argument long-held by local industry figures who want to maintain privacy.
‘It’s right that we work together to make sure that’s the case, whether it’s for law enforcement activity or for general levels of compliance,’ he said.
‘There’s more that we all need to do in the UK.
‘We’re having to update the way in which Companies House, for example, verifies identity and address details when registering new companies.
‘All of us have a shared interest in making sure that we’re not providing loopholes or easy routes for money laundering or hiding assets in a way which is in breach of the law, and the more we can do to make sure that transparency is applied in the way the public would expect, the better.’
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