13.03.2025

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Update to Cayman Beneficial Ownership Regime

Update to Cayman Beneficial Ownership Regime

The Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Amendment) Act, 2025 came into effect on 6 February 2025.

Additionally, two new regulations have been introduced under the Cayman Islands Beneficial Ownership regime:

  1. Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Access Restriction) Regulations, 2024 (the “Access Restrictions Regulations”); and
  2. Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Legitimate Interest Access) Regulations, 2024 (the “LIA Regulations”).

The Access Restriction Regulations came into force on 9 December 2024, while the Legitimate Interest Access Regulations will come into force on 28 February 2025.

For your ease of reference, we attach the relevant regulations and guidance notes:

  1. Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Amendment) Act, 2025;
  2. Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Access Restriction) Regulations, 2024;
  3. Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Legitimate Interest Access) Regulations, 2024; and
  4. Guidance on Applying for Access to Beneficial Ownership Information on the Basis of Legitimate Interest and for the Protection from Disclosure.

Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Amendment) Act, 2025

The key changes to the Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act, 2024 (“BOTA”) are:

  1. Amendment of section 4 of BOTA – meaning of beneficial owner
    • S4(3), BOTA is repealed and substituted with the following:
      “(3) Where a trust meets one of the specified conditions in respect of an individual under subsection (1), a trustee of the trust shall be identified as the contact person.”
    • S4(4), BOTA is amended to the following:
      “(4) Where there is no registrable beneficial owner or a trustee identified in accordance with subsection (3), the senior managing official shall be identified as the contact person.”
  2. Amendment of section 6 of BOTA – duty of legal persons to identify registrable beneficial owners, etc.
    • BOTA is amended in section 6(2)(c) by deleting the words “a trust referred to in section 4(3)” and substituting the words “the trust identified in accordance with section 4(3) or the individual identified in accordance with section 4(4)”.
  3. Amendment of section 10 – exemption
    • A company that is registered in accordance with section 7 of the Non-Profit Organisations Act (2020 Revision) is now exempt from the provisions of BOTA.
  4. Amendment of section 12 – required particulars and written confirmation required for categories of legal persons
    • Section 12 is amended in subsection (8), by deleting the words “A licensed fund administrator or the contact person under subsection (4)(c) shall provide” and substituting the words “The legal person shall appoint the licensed fund administrator or the contact person referred to in subsection (4)(c) and shall be responsible for the licensed fund administrator or the contact person providing”.
  5. Amendment of section 22 – access to beneficial ownership information
    • Section 22 is expanded to include additional authorities with the right to access BO information.
    • Access to the information on the search platform for a licensed financial institution and a designated non-financial business and profession in respect of and individual and a corporate entity is limited to certain details.
    • Members of the public no longer have access under Section 22(6) to the information
      of minors within the meaning of section 2 of the Age of Majority Act (1999 Revision).
  6. Insertion of section 22A – protection of searches from dissemination
    • Where access to the search platform is provided in accordance with section 22, any information relating to the access to the beneficial ownership register and the actual information accessed shall be an exempt matter for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act (2021 Revision).

LIA Regulations

The LIA Regulations provide a framework to allow certain members of the public who meet the following criteria to apply for specified information from a legal person’s beneficial ownership register:

  1. A person who is:
    • a. engaged in journalism or bona fide academic research; or
    • b. acting on behalf of a civil society organisation whose purpose includes preventing or combating money laundering, its predicate offences, or terrorist financing; or
    • c. seeking information in relation to the legal person in the context of a potential or actual business relationship or transaction with that legal person; and
  2. The information being sought in relation to the legal person is because the applicant has a legitimate interest in the information, namely that it is sought for the purpose of preventing, detecting, investigating, combating or prosecuting money laundering, its predicate offences, or terrorist financing.

Access Restrictions Regulations

Under the Access Restrictions Regulations, individuals (including senior managing officials) are able to apply for protection from public disclosure (“protection from disclosure”) where they believe that the disclosure of information relating to them and their association with the legal person, will place them, or a person living with them, at serious risk of:

  1. Kidnapping;
  2. Extortion;
  3. Violence;
  4. Intimidation; or
  5. Other similar danger or serious harm.

This protection from disclosure, if granted, will only apply to successful applications for requests to search a legal person’s beneficial ownership register submitted by members of the public that can evidence a legitimate interest.

Cayman Islands law enforcement authorities, government agencies, financial institutions and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions will continue to have access to all beneficial ownership information, regardless of whether or not the individual has obtained protection under the Access Restrictions Regulations.

If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact your relationship manager. Alternatively, you can email us at [email protected].

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

 

開曼群島實質受益人制度最新修訂通知

謹通知《2025年實質受益權透明化 (修訂) 法》(下稱 「BOTA 修訂法」) 已於2025年2月6日正式生效。

此外，開曼群島實質受益人制度新增之兩項重要法規，旨在強化資料保護及法律合規性：

  1. 《2024年實質受益權透明化 (存取限制) 條例》(下稱 「存取限制條例」)
  2. 《2024年實質受益權透明化 (合法利益存取) 條例》(下稱「合法利益存取條例」)

生效日：

  • 存取限制條例已於2024年12月9日正式生效。
  • 合法利益存取條例將於2025年2月28日生效。

隨函檢附相關法規與指南供參：

  1. 《2025年實質受益權透明化 (修訂) 法》；
  2. 《2024年實質受益權透明化 (存取限制) 條例》；
  3. 《2024年實質受益權透明化 (合法利益存取) 條例》；以及
  4. 《合法利益存取及資料保護申請指南》

《BOTA修訂法》之主要修訂內容

  1. 修訂第4條 – 實質受益人之定義：
    • 第4 (3) 條：本條款已廢止並修訂如下：「(3) 當信託符合第 (1) 項所述條件之一時，該信託之受託人應被辨識為聯絡人。」
    • 第4 (4) 條：本條款修訂如下：「(4) 若無可登記之實質受益人或依據第 (3) 項指定之受託人，則其高階管理人員應被辨識為聯絡人。」
  2. 修訂第6條 – 法人應辨識應登記實質受益人之義務：
    • 第6 (2) (c) 條：刪除「第4 (3) 條所指之信託」部分文字，並更正為「依據第4 (3) 條辨識之信託，或依據第4 (4) 條辨識之個人」。
  3. 修訂第10條 – 豁免條款：
    • 依據《2020年非營利組織 (修訂) 法》第7條規定註冊之公司，現得免除適用《BOTA修訂法》。
  4. 修訂第12條 – 不同類別之法人須提交之書面與確認資料：
    • 第 (8) 項：刪除「持牌基金管理人或第 (4) (c) 項聯絡人應提供」部分文字，並更正為「法人應指派持牌基金管理人或依據第 (4) (c) 項規定之聯絡人，並應確保持牌基金管理人或聯絡人提供」。
  5. 修訂第22條 – 實質受益人資料存取：
    • 第22條增添可存取實質受益人資訊之主管機關名單範圍。
    • 持牌金融機構及經指定非金融企業與專業人士可於搜尋引擎存取個人及法人之資料，僅限於特定範圍。
    • 刪除原第22 (6) 條：公眾人士存取符合《1999年成年 (修訂) 法》第2條定義之未成年人之資料。
  6. 新增第22A條 – 資料搜尋之保密規定：經本法第22條授權搜尋平台之存取，所有與實質受益人名冊存取相關之資訊及實際存取之資料，均屬《2021年資料自由 (修訂) 法》之豁免事項。

《合法利益存取條例》

《合法利益存取條例》規範符合下列條件的公眾人士，得申請調閱公司實質受益人名冊內特定資料：

  1. 申請人身份：
    • a) 從事新聞採訪或學術研究之人士；或
    • b) 代表致力於防範與打擊洗錢交易、其前置犯罪或資助恐怖活動之民間組織；或
    • c) 因潛在或實際商業交易需求，需查閱公司資料之人士。
  2. 合法利益：申請人申請查閱資料須具「合法利益」，即為預防、偵測、調查、打擊或起訴洗錢、其前置犯罪或資助恐怖活動之目的。

《存取限制條例》

依據《存取限制條例》，如若個人 (包含高階管理人員) 認為其個人資料或其與法人之關聯公開揭露後，可能對其本人或同居親屬構成以下嚴重風險，則可申請「資料保護」：

  1. 綁架；
  2. 勒索；
  3. 暴力；
  4. 恐嚇；或
  5. 其他類似重大風險或危害。

上開「資料保護」僅適用於依據《合法利益存取條例》提出並經核准之查閱申請。

開曼群島執法機關、政府機構、金融機構及經指定之非金融企業與專業人士，仍擁有完整資料存取權，不受上述資料保護之限制。

如需進一步了解上述規範或協助申請資料保護或合法利益之查閱，敬請與您的保得利關係經理聯繫，亦可寄送電子郵件至：[email protected]