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...Read More

Panama’s Law 129 of 2020, creating a non-public central register of beneficial ownership of legal entities, has been gazetted and is now in force. The Law stipulates that attorneys who provide resident agent services must now report their direct or indirect controllers and ultimate beneficiaries to the competent authorities. The deadline for reporting is within...Read More

DAC 6 and Trust Registration Service – possible deferral? We’ve asked HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) whether they would consider deferring the commencement dates of the DAC 6 and the Trust Registration Service rules in the UK. Both of these are based in EU Directives, but we consider there’s a strong case for deferral of...Read More

Last month,  the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued the 2020 National Strategy for Combating Terrorist and other Illicit Financing, calling for legislative action to require the disclosure of beneficial ownership information at the time of company formation. DOWNLOAD PDF -> NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR COMBATING TERRORIST AND OTHER ILLICIT FINANCINGRead More

Following the changes to the money laundering regulations in January 2020 to reflect the Fifth Money Laundering Directive, the government have published their technical consultation on the extension of the Trust Registration Service. This proposes to extend the registration requirements to most UK express trusts, whether or not they have a tax liability. It also...Read More