With the end of the initial public consultation period on Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017 having ended, the public is advised that the second consultation period will begin shortly – and the Minister of Financial Services again encourages all business owners to provide input.
'The planned amendments facilitate an information exchange arrangement with the UK for beneficial ownership information. They are in line with the agreements made between the UK and all of its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies', Minister of Financial Services Wayne Panton said.
He noted that the platform will enhance Cayman's already strong regime of exchanging this information with law, regulatory and tax authorities in jurisdictions with which we have legal arrangements to do so, in order to support the global fight against criminality.
However, 'This is not an attempt to introduce a public or central register of beneficial ownership information', Minister Panton emphasised.
'Currently, fewer than a dozen countries around the world have introduced or plan to introduce public registers', he pointed out. 'Cayman is not one of those countries, and we will not do so until this is the accepted and implemented international standard.
'We do however, recognise that there has been a strong push globally for greater transparency and information exchange, and that Cayman must act in order to protect our reputation as a leading international financial centre'.
The initial consultation period, which ended on Friday 9 December 2016, was intended to identify any major areas of concern with the draft bill for the Ministry of Financial Services to consider. Following this, a revised Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017, as well as the Limited Liability Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017 will be published on or before Monday 19, December.
Once the three bills are published, the second public consultation period will begin for 21 days, in accordance with the constitution.
Minister Panton explained that the legislative amendments stem from discussions between Cayman and the UK about enhancing the exchange of information arrangements between the two countries' tax, regulatory and legal authorities.
'The conversation began in earnest in June 2013, with the UK's chairing of the G8 Summit', he said.
'That's when Cayman – as well as the other UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories – agreed with the UK to assess if establishing central registers of the natural persons who ultimately have beneficial ownership and control of companies would enhance domestic legal compliance, and also allow easier access to this information by authorities in the jurisdictions with which the CDs and OTs have legal agreements to exchange information'.
To fulfil our agreement, Cayman conducted a public consultation on beneficial ownership of registered companies in late 2013. Findings, which were published in December 2014, were that the strength of our current regime, which collects, maintains and updates beneficial ownership information through our licenced and regulated corporate service providers (CSPs), was an appropriate and preferred system that complies with international standards.
However, to further enhance our CSP system, the Ministry of Financial Services, in conjunction with Cayman Finance, developed the concept of a centralised platform of beneficial ownership information.
Discussions with the UK in 2015 validated that Cayman's CSP and centralised platform approach were 'similarly effective' to the initial concept of a central register. On this basis, Cayman entered into an Exchange of Notes with the UK to implement the centralised platform, to augment the sharing of beneficial ownership information with the UK. The Exchange of Notes was signed in April 2016, and all of the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories signed similar agreements.
If approved in the Legislative Assembly, the bills would provide the necessary framework to allow the centralised platform to be developed by 30 June 2017, in accordance with Cayman's agreement with the UK.
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