UK presses Guernsey to open up on who really owns companies

Thursday 07 December 2023

Pressure continues to be applied on Guernsey by the UK to allow the public to see who really owns companies based in the island.

In 2019, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man all agreed to implement publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership in line with principles adopted by the European Union.

But in November 2022, a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling saw the islands stop that work, and other EU states end public access to their registers.

Transparency campaigners have stressed how important public registers are in uncovering criminal offences and conflicts of interest.

“The UK and the Crown Dependencies have differing legal views on implementing publicly accessible registers in light of the CJEU ruling,” said UK Home Office Minister, Thomas Tugendhat.

“The UK is satisfied with the lawfulness of our own publicly accessible registers and continues to believe that the CDs could legally implement public registers of their own.

“The Home Office is actively engaging the Crown Dependencies to understand their position. We will keep Parliament updated in the weeks ahead.”

He was answering a question by Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who has long campaigned for public registers in the islands.

Currently 14 EU Member States allow public access to their beneficial ownership registers.

“Gibraltar has maintained a publicly accessible beneficial ownership register since 2020 and has not noted any negative economic impacts resulting from implementation of its public register,” Mr Tugendat said.

Guernsey's law requires all companies to file beneficial ownership information which can be disclosed for criminal or regulatory investigations.