Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to establish a public register of the ownership of offshore companies and trusts.

The Overseas Territories are legislatively independent and are largely self-governing: they have their own governments, legislatures and elected representatives, and do not have representation in the UK Parliament.

The Government has established a register of all trusts, including those established offshore, which incur UK tax consequences. This enables law enforcement authorities to identify beneficial owners of relevant trusts. Further, the UK is engaged with EU negotiations on targeted amendments to the Fourth Money Laundering Directive, including increased obligations for trusts to register information on their beneficial ownership.

Under the UK Companies Act, legislation on the Register of People with Significant Control can only be applied to companies as defined in that Act. Overseas Territories with financial centres and the Crown Dependencies have agreed to hold company beneficial ownership information in a central register (or similarly effective system) and to share this information with UK law enforcement on request. We have legislated, through the Criminal Finances Act 2017, to review by 1 July 2019 the effectiveness of these arrangements over the first eighteen months of their operation.