Overseas Territories: adopting publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership

All of the inhabited UK Overseas Territories (OTs) have committed to adopt publicly accessible registers of company beneficial ownership.

The government welcomes this, and we have published a draft Order in Council under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA). The Order sets out the minimum standards we expect to see from the Overseas Territories’ registers.

We have also published a explanatory note for the draft Order that explains:

• the main provisions in the draft Order and the UK government’s expectations
• the progress the Territories have already made in addressing illicit finance flows and improving transparency
• our collective next steps