LONDON–In another exclusive story resulting from a collaboration between AML Intelligence, the premium newswire for anti-money laundering professionals, and reporter.london, it is revealed that despite its advertised transparency, the new beneficial ownership corporate registry of the Cayman Islands leaves much to be desired.

In short, reporter.london applied to the Caymans government to find out who owns a firm connected to a controversial UK bankruptcy (induced by Financial Conduct Authority penalties).

After significant back and forth, and financial expense, the request was refused on the grounds that there was not enough evidence of money laundering (or a predicate offense), or terrorism finance. This is despite the UK FCA warning publicly that the company which later went bankrupt had engaged in longstanding and systematic deceitful conduct.

Following the publication of the AMLi article, reporter.london received a comment from Henry Conner, a public relations specialist at Cayman Finance, an industry organisation. Conner put across the following main points:

“Since 2010, Cayman has implemented over 50 new laws and regulations to enhance transparency, strengthen AML protections, and align with global standards – see the attached document for the full list. As a result, the Cayman Islands is in good standing with FATF, the global anti-money laundering watchdog, and both the EU and OECD with respect to cross-border tax compliance.”

Conner also noted that the Caymans remain a highly trusted domicile jurisdiction for the global funds industry, second only to the US by the number of registered corporate entities in this sector, and that “the Cayman Islands is not included on either the EU’s or OECD’s lists of non-cooperative countries for tax purposes, commonly referred to as “tax haven” blacklists.”

Click here for the original story (paywalled).