Recent weeks have seen Westminster increase political pressure on Cayman’s register of beneficial ownership. Earlier this month UK Minister of State for the Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, told Parliament the UK will “continue to pursue” Cayman’s transition to a fully public register.
Meanwhile MPs from the UK’s two main political parties have issued strongly-worded statements calling for Cayman to fully-open its register of beneficial ownership.
The basic thinking in Westminster is that Cayman is hiding tax evaders and money launderers, so it should fully open its register of beneficial ownership to complete public access. In Westminster debates, UK politicians from both parties describe Cayman as “shady”, home to “dirty money” and a “tax haven”.
It’s great to see the UK’s Conservative and Labour parties work together in bipartisan harmony. It’s just a pity that they’ve chosen such a misguided policy to agree upon.
In February 2025, Cayman opened access to its register of beneficial ownership to ‘legitimate interests’. That means journalists, non-governmental organisations, financial crime investigators and business counterparties can already see the ultimate owners and beneficiaries of any entity registered in Cayman.
Switching to a fully open register wouldn’t make any difference in terms of fighting financial crime but would make a real difference to Cayman. It might be hard to understand from the safety of Westminster, but there are genuine reasons why a wealthy individual from other parts of the world might not want to advertise their wealth and assets. For example, kidnapping and extortion are common in much of nearby Latin America, from which some of Cayman’s investments derive.
It’s not just entities and individuals from violent countries that would fear a fully open register. With cybercrime on the rise, open access to the register would be a boon for online criminals who use personal data to commit identity fraud.
There is also the commercial risk. Some institutional investors would be wary that competitors would be able to glean sensitive information about an investment position by analysing a fully open register.
Given that Cayman’s current system already allows access for legitimate interests, we must ask, why is the UK seeking to open the door for those without a legitimate interest?
The underlying reason seems to be a misunderstanding of global finance. Many British people hear that there is no direct taxation in Cayman and assume that makes it a tax haven, so for UK MPs ‘clamping down on tax havens’ is an easy way to gain votes. Explaining that the Cayman Islands is compliant with leading international financial regulations and exchanges information to ensure entities and individuals pay the right tax in their home countries wouldn’t win much support on the campaign trail.
What most British voters won’t realise is that the UK’s insistence on a fully open register stems from a 2016 EU proposal. It was precisely the type of overarching European regulation that was cited by pro-Brexit campaigners in 2016 as a reason for leaving the EU. Ironically the EU abandoned the concept of fully open registers in 2022, when the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled they interfere with the fundamental right to privacy. Yet the UK perseveres with this broken policy.
And that is the problem – it is only the UK that is committing to a fully public register. Instead of building a global consensus, the UK adopted it unilaterally and is now trying to force the British Overseas Territories to follow suit. So far only smaller territories with less to lose, for example Gibraltar and Montserrat, have followed suit. That means that if Cayman were to bow to UK pressure and fully open access to its register, it would be the only major international financial centre to do so. It would simply force privacy-conscious entities and individuals to move their business elsewhere. It wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference to global financial crime, but it would harm Cayman’s financial centre.
Fortunately, Cayman does have some say in the matter. The right to privacy is enshrined in our constitution and if the UK were to enforce a fully open register, an impacted individual could apply to the European Court of Human Rights. The UK knows this, which is why it wants to avoid a messy legal battle and instead politically pressure the Cayman Islands to adopt a fully open register.
Cayman benefits from being a British Overseas Territory. But it’s also a proud jurisdiction with its own electorate, constitution and economy. Cayman’s world-leading financial centre should not be subject to the whims of Westminster.
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Absolutely correct.
The UK is just about the only country in the world that allows this scrutiny of company shareholders. Ridiculous.
A few weeks ago a read an article condemning Cayman in some newspaper.
I tracked down the author and suggested he should fly to Cayman from London on the direct BA flight and try to open a local bank account. I promised that I’d reimburse his airfare and hotel if he succeeded. Never got a reply.
This is what our government should be doing. Challenging our critics.