Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made on reforming procedures in the UK’s Overseas Territories to eliminate (1) tax avoidance, and (2) money laundering.

The Overseas Territories are committed to meeting international standards on illicit finance, tax transparency and anti-money laundering; including those set by the OECD and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Overseas Territories have their own democratically elected governments that set their financial services and fiscal policy. The Overseas Territories are all introducing publicly accessible registers of company beneficial ownership and they already share confidential information on company beneficial ownership with UK law enforcement bodies under the Exchange of Notes Arrangements. Information provided has enabled the seizure of illicit funds, including information to support the National Crime Agency's first Unexplained Wealth Order, which froze approximately £25 million. All Overseas Territories with financial centres are committed to global tax transparency standards such as the OECD Common Reporting Standard, an agreement to automatically exchange financial account information with other jurisdictions. The UK Government welcomes these commitments, which demonstrate that the Overseas Territories are responsible jurisdictions that will implement changing UK, EU and global norms.