Bermuda’s Beneficial Ownership Requirements: A Model for Transparency

Strong Regulatory Framework

The Government of Bermuda has a long history of leading international efforts to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit financial crimes. For over 70 years, the jurisdiction has imposed robust safeguards on its corporate registry, ensuring that only quality applicants are registered.

• Know your customer regime well-established at national level
• Strong legislative and operational framework to combat money laundering and terrorist financing

International Recognition

Bermuda’s efforts in this area have been consistently recognized by the UK Government and international standard-setting bodies. In 2020, Bermuda was ranked as having a Substantial level of Effectiveness in relation to its measures to prevent the misuse of legal persons and arrangements and access to beneficial ownership information.

• Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recognition
• Founding member of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force
• Assessed and rated largely compliant overall under the OECD Tax Transparency and Information Exchange Peer Review Assessment process

Transparency and Cooperation

Bermuda is committed to playing an effective role in the global fight against illicit financial crimes.

• Beneficial Ownership Register: A comprehensive central register of beneficial ownership information, held and maintained by the Bermuda Monetary Authority
• Public Access: Plans to make its companies’ central register of beneficial ownership information accessible to the public within 12 months

Commitment to Transparency

Bermuda is committed to leading by example and actively engaging with its international partners on issues related to beneficial ownership and transparency.

• Collaborating with international bodies, such as the FATF, OECD, IOSCO, IAIS, G20, and others
• Sharing information and best practices on corporate transparency and information exchange mechanisms