Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the Overseas Territories introduce public registers of beneficial ownership.

Please refer to my Written Ministerial Statement of 3 July which provides an update and details of next steps.

We have made very clear to our partners in the remaining Overseas Territories the importance of delivering on the previously committed to deadlines, and have offered technical support to achieve this. We have communicated that we expect rapid and robust action to be taken, given the crucial importance of tackling illicit finance and increasing transparency. We have set out that we expect access to be granted to a wide range of legitimate users, that registers should enable proactive investigations and should act as a deterrent to those seeking to conceal illicit gains.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials have conducted an in-house assessment of the latest policies and proposals from these Overseas Territories against the discussions at the Joint Ministerial Council in November 2024. In addition, we have reviewed feedback from a range of external stakeholders including expert NGOs and parliamentarians. We have also considered emerging international modalities which cover legitimate interest access registers. I have recently discussed this issue with a range of Overseas Territory leaders and will continue to do so.