Registry Supervision and how it will affect you

Jersey is committed to maintaining its compliance with international standards. This includes the Financial Action Task Force standards on transparency in relation to beneficial ownership of legal persons which require information on the registers to be adequate, accurate and up to date.

Disclosure Law

In 2021, the Financial Services (Disclosure and Provision of Information) (Jersey) Law 2020 (the Disclosure Law) came into force. The Disclosure Law sets out the legal authority for the Registry to collect and maintain information in relation to significant persons and beneficial owners.

The Disclosure Law has two approaches to ensuring the information held by us is adequate, accurate and up to date.

1. All companies and other entities must provide the us with detailed information in relation to the:

    • Significant Persons
    • Beneficial Owners

This information must be kept up to date and the nominated person must notify us  of any change to this information within 21 days. There are late fees which increase on a monthly basis. Failing to update information within 21 days without a reasonable excuse is a criminal offence and the entity and the significant persons may be liable to prosecution.

2. Registry officers are permitted to authenticate the information submitted to us. This can be achieved by looking at original and/or additional documents which confirm the accuracy and adequacy of the information on the registers.

These two approaches are designed to create a robust framework within which we can be confident that the information we hold is in line with international standards.

Registry Supervision

A Registry Supervision team was established in January 2022 to check that the information provided to Registry is, accurate and up to date.

This new supervision includes:

  • onsite inspections
  • the review and interrogation of data submitted to the Registry to highlight and investigate anomalies
  • regular review of public information sources.

What this means for you

Onsite inspections to authenticate information

We will arrange onsite inspections to your registered office or invite you to attend our office to review the documentation you hold and to check this against the information submitted to us.  

Local business inspections

For local businesses, visits will be arranged in advance and, where possible, will be arranged to fit in with your day-to-day activities. You can contact us if you need to rearrange this visit.

You will also be provided with a list of the information and documentation we would like to see during our visit. This will be to authenticate the information you have provided via MyRegistry.

Regulated sector inspections

For the regulated sector, visits will be onsite like those conducted by your JFSC Supervisor and the Examination team. We will select a number of entities at each service provider and inspect them the same date.

Registry Supervision will be conducting a number of its own visits initially but we will be streamlining the process. We will be working with our Examination team to ensure maximum efficiency within both teams with minimum impact to you. The JFSC Examination Programme will be developed to include elements of Registry Supervision.

Registered offices - private residences

For registered offices which are private residences, we can either attend your private residence or the nominated person can come to our office with the original documentation, which we need to see to authenticate the records.

Use of existing Registry data

We are using existing data from our registers to ensure the accuracy of information you have submitted to us. For example, checking associated party information has been updated for all entities to which an individual is connected.

We will contact you or the relevant person if any issues are identified.

Public records review

There are a number of other sources that we can check to ensure that our registries hold information which is adequate, accurate and up to date.

This may include official public records such as

  • Court Reports
  • Jersey Gazette
  • Viscount publications
  • local, national and international news reports and publications

Registrar of Companies report