Signs that Cameron is easing up on forcing Jersey to make register of ownership public?

Thursday 14 April 2016

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has stood up for Jersey in the House of Commons, telling MPs that Crown Dependencies have done “a huge amount” to address financial crime and signalling that he is easing up on forcing Jersey to publish its register of beneficial ownership.

In a statement on Monday over the “Panama Papers” leaks, Mr Cameron praised the Crown Dependencies – Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man – for their work in regulating the financial services sector, and saying that they were well ahead of other jurisdictions, including some US states.

And on the critical issue of publication of the register of beneficial ownership – effectively, the JFSC’s list of who owns every Jersey registered company – which the UK has previously pushed for and which Jersey has resisted, Mr Cameron seemed to signal that still wanted to see the register published, but that it was not a top priority.

Speaking about the Crown Dependencies, he said: “For years, there was a reputational and potentially real problem. They have done a huge amount to address that. They are now better placed than other similar jurisdictions.

“As I said, there are states in the United States of America that have less disclosure and transparency. Let us not be unfair on the Crown dependencies and overseas territories, which we—certainly on this side of the House—are proud to have as part of our family of nations.

“The Right Honorable Gentleman asked to whom the information about beneficial ownership in the Crown dependencies and overseas territories will be available. It will initially be available to law enforcement agencies, including, crucially, our own.

“These places are not producing public registers yet. I want them to, but let us be frank: only about three countries in the world, including Britain now, have these public ownership registers. If we had tried to push that on to the Crown dependencies straightaway, we would not have got nearly as far as we have got today.”

Mr Cameron’s statement follows a week of revelations from the “Panama Papers” and came just after he disclosed his own tax records, after a series of stories about how he benefitted from assets held by his late father in the Bahamas and Jersey.

Citing a new arrangement under which the contents of the Jersey register of beneficial ownership will be shared with UK agencies within 24 hours of a request, he said: “The House should note that that will place our overseas territories and Crown dependencies well ahead of many other similar jurisdictions, and also—crucially—ahead of many of our major international partners, including some states in the United States of America.

“Next month we will seek to go further still, using our anti-corruption summit to encourage consensus not just on exchanging information, but on publishing such information and putting it into the public domain, as we are doing in the UK. We want everyone with a stake in fighting corruption—from law enforcement, to civil society and the media—to be able to use those data and help us to root out and deter wrongdoing.”