Jersey has captured beneficial ownership information on a corporate registry since 1999 and this information is available to law enforcement agencies.
Its Financial Services Commission (JFSC) regularly undertakes rigorous on-site examinations of businesses to assess compliance. Given there is ready access and availability of beneficial ownership information to foreign fiscal and investigative authorities, the industry does not believe there is further benefit in pursuing a public register.
Furthermore, Jersey’s ability to capture ownership information of companies is far ahead of those available in other onshore and offshore jurisdictions including the UK, which is so far alone in calling for a public registry.
Indeed at the last meeting of G20 nations, one of the key findings on beneficial ownership was an endorsement of the current Financial Action Task Force (FATF) approach which is to ensure that the true owners of value are known, that this information is readily available and that it can be exchanged between governments without undue difficulty.
We believe this is the prudent approach as a public registry will be of dubious value, will be bypassed by criminals and those who misuse companies to launder money and for tax evasion purposes, while data will be unreliable.
Jersey adheres to current international standards and is already a global leader in capturing and exchanging such information through agreements between regulators and fiscal authorities.
Loading...