Today (Fri Jan 31 2020), the Cayman Islands Government has taken the next step in the modernisation of legislation around its beneficial ownership regime, with the intent of bringing the jurisdiction in line with the latest round of international standard requirements around gathering and filing information on beneficial owners of those entities.

The following Bills were debated and approved with committee stage amendments in this sitting of the Legislative Assembly:

1. The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020
2. The Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2020
3. The Limited Liability Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020

These bills seek to provide clarification of what constitutes a beneficial owner and corporate service provider responsibilities in gathering, recording and filing such information with the Registrar of Companies.

Further, The Private Funds Bill, 2020 and the Mutual Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was also debated in the House.  These Bills seek to enhance the regulatory infrastructure for investment funds, including previously exempted funds with the familiar sensible and commercially responsive model that has been the backbone of the Cayman Islands’ success as a leading jurisdiction for investment funds.

These laws were drafted in close consultation with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and Cayman-based funds professionals, including accounting, audit, administration, governance and legal practitioners to provide practical operational and industry perspectives. 

The International Tax Co-operation (Economic Substance) (Amendment) Bill 2019 was also debated. This Law was also the subject of industry consultation. The amendments were designed to maintain alignment with international standards and to facilitate effective implementation of the Law in a manner which can better withstand the scrutiny of international monitoring and peer reviews regarding the “substantial activities” requirement for no or only nominal tax jurisdictions under the OECD BEPS Action 5 on Harmful Tax Practices.