Cayman Islands amending beneficial ownership definition

With the first months of 2020, Cayman Islands has seen the introduction of a new bill that has amended The Companies Law (2018 Revision) in order to increase the effectiveness of the beneficial ownership regime and the connected registration process.

Clause 4 of the bill has thus amended section 244(1), in the definition of “beneficial ownership register”, by inserting after the word “current” the words “beneficial ownership”. Beforehand, a beneficial owner was considered an individual that either:

  • holds, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the shares of the company (or capital/profits in the case of a limited liability company);
  • holds, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the voting rights in the company;
  • holds the right, directly or indirectly, to appoint or remove a majority of the board of directors of the company (or managers in the case of a limited liability company).

With the new bill, the definition of beneficial owner will be modified from “more than 25% of the voting rights in the company” to “25% or more of the voting rights in the company”.

To allow for the public do comply with such change, the deadline for beneficial ownership filing has been extended up to 15th May 2020

SOURCE: www.legislativeassembly.ky