Cayman Islands launches work over public register of beneficial owners

Starting from 2019 in the Cayman Islands a discussion has been launched regarding the introduction of public registers of beneficial owners. The anti-money laundering combating made the European Union the main actor on a global stage to push through new standards for transparency. The recent measures are substance requirements and introduction of public registers of companies’ owners for the British Overseas Territories, including the Cayman Islands.

According to preliminary arrangements the Cayman public register (CPR) should start functioning by 2023. This date was some sort of compromise between the EU and the Island, as such a sensitive transformation requires a lot of things to consider.

Due to the worldwide pandemic the overall process related to elaboration of preliminary drafts of legislation has been put on hold. However, for the Cayman’s government it helps to win more time and to wait until the same standards of transparency will be implemented worldwide. As it was previously announced by Alden McLaughlin, the Cayman Islands are ready to implement the public beneficial owners register only if it will become an international standard.

It is still unknown on how the CPR will operate. In particular, there is no clarity whether the requirement to open beneficiary’s details will be applicable to the member with the specific threshold or to any shareholder, including the minority.