The government has acted on a commitment to allow access to details around beneficial ownership by the end of 2024.
However, the once promised public access still looks unlikely to be happening any time soon.
The change was confirmed when Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson received the support of Tynwald in making the Beneficial Ownership (Obliged Entities Access) Order 2024 at the December sitting.
The Order makes provisions to allow for people or bodies carrying out business or activity to which the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Finance of Terrorism Code applies, or a business to which the Gambling (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism) Code 2019 applies, to access the island’s Beneficial Ownership Register.
The Order forms part of the joint commitment alongside the other Crown Dependencies to introduce access to beneficial ownership for ‘Obliged Entities’ by the end of 2024.
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Dr Allinson said: “Clearly, it is very helpful for those conducting business with other companies or entities to be able to undertake due diligence checks into the beneficial owners of those companies.
“These new rules will allow for those checks to be more comprehensive, and allow for businesses to gain a fuller understanding of the individuals and businesses they are dealing with through access to our Beneficial Ownership Register.|
The Treasury Minister also took the opportunity to update Tynwald on the progress being made more broadly to expand access to beneficial ownership information, in line with Government’s commitment.
The government will continue to seek to to further increase access to the Beneficial Ownership register, for those who have what is known as a legitimate interest, such as investigative journalists and civil society groups who have an interest in combating money laundering and illicit finance more broadly.
Dr Allinson said: ‘There is currently no international standard in this policy area, so we are awaiting developments in the EU as they build on the framework they have set out in the Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive to give further detail as to how this would work in practice.
“Once that is more clearly defined, we will take the necessary steps to allow for similar access in the Isle of Man.”
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