Premier right to reject suggestions to make beneficial ownership registers public
Dear editor,
The Premier, the Hon. André Ebanks, is right in principle, and legally, to reject further suggestions that beneficial ownership registers in the Cayman Islands be available to the public at large. Unrestricted public access is not a global standard, and has been rejected by the European Court of Justice in the EU in Sovim on the basis of identical wording to that in the Cayman Islands Bill of Rights. It is most certainly not a standard in China or Southeast Asia and nor is it in the United States where the Corporate Transparency Act has been suspended. Furthermore, it is not a requirement of any FATF Directive, nor, notwithstanding the EU 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive has it been and nor is it ever likely to be adopted universally in the EU. It is perhaps regrettable that further thought was not given to how exactly inserting the word ‘legitimate’ as a prefix to ‘interest’ is supposed to confer legitimacy on enquiring journalists but, as the Premier now rightly, says, enough is enough. For a more complete summary of the story, please see the below link:
Published on: Feb 14, 2026 12:03 PM