Hon. K. Peter Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister;

Hon. Brent T. Symonette, Minister of Financial Services and Immigration;

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

It is my pleasure to speak to you this morning on the legislative overview of the Register of Beneficial Ownership Bill, 2018. The purpose of this session is to guide stakeholders through the key provisions, objects, and reasons for the Register of Beneficial Ownership Bill, which was tabled in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 25th April, 2018.  Further, we regard it as important that as a jurisdiction, we need to determine what actions should be taken rather than have measures imposed upon us; thus, proactively addressing global regulatory pressures as oppose to reacting to them. 

In 2014, the G20 endorsed the international importance of financial transparency, particularly the transparency of beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements, to prevent the misuse of corporate entities. Subsequently, the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors requested that the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) provide concrete actions that the G20 could take in order to lead by example in respect of beneficial ownership transparency and the implementation of relevant Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards...>more