Beneficial ownership guidance updated

We have updated our beneficial ownership guidance. The guidance was last updated in January when the Financial Services (Disclosure and Provision of Information) (Jersey) Law 2020 (Disclosure Law) came into force. We made two key updates to the guidance. In Section 1 we now explain the definition of “beneficial owner” in the law and how we record the information in myRegistry.

The other key update is in Section 5 for companies owned by a trust. You no longer need to record the settlor as a controller unless the settlor has retained powers of control, for example, the right to appoint or remove a trustee, to amend the trust deed or to revoke the trust.

Settlors, instigators and arrangers will not be recorded as controllers but we will still collect their details as part of the wider information we use to assess the activities and structure.