Cayman Reaffirms ‘Legitimate Interest’ Model for Beneficial Ownership Access

The Cayman Islands Government has confirmed that the jurisdiction will maintain its “legitimate interest” framework for access to beneficial ownership information, resisting external pressure for a fully public register. The Premier has publicly stated that a “Google-style” open-access register would likely be unconstitutional under Cayman law and has repeatedly referenced the ruling of the European Court of Justice which invalidated Luxembourg’s public register regime on privacy grounds. Instead, Cayman has adopted a “legitimate interest” test, permitting access to beneficial ownership data where a demonstrable public interest outweighs privacy concerns.

Amendments to the Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act were enacted in November 2025, with further changes approved by Parliament on 10 March 2026 through the Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Legitimate Interest Access) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. These introduced a KY$250 (US$300) annual fee for qualifying users conducting multiple searches and increased the cost of a single search to KY$75 (US$90).

The Cayman Islands beneficial ownership regime already exceeds current Financial Action Task Force standards, and the Cayman Islands Government continues to enhance all areas of compliance ahead of Cayman’s fifth-round mutual evaluation, scheduled for December 2027. The upcoming assessment is expected to focus on enforcement outcomes, including money laundering prosecutions, complaints handling and asset recovery.

Beneficial Owners

The overall objective of the beneficial ownership regime is to ensure transparency of the beneficial ownership of Cayman Islands entities. A Beneficial Owner in relation to a legal person means an individual who either (a) ultimately owns or controls, whether directly or indirectly, 25% or more of the shares, voting rights or partnership interests in a legal person; or (b) otherwise exercises ultimate effective control (through a chain of ownership or other than by direct control) over the management of the legal person; or (c), where there is no individual fitting within (a) or (b), an individual who exercises control of the legal person through other means (for example as a director or a CEO), but does not include an individual acting solely as a professional advisor or professional manager.

If no individual meets any of the criteria with respect to a legal person but the trustees of a trust meet one of the Beneficial Owner criteria, in their capacities as trustees of a trust, those trustees are then the beneficial owners of the legal person if they have ultimate effective control over the trust.

The meaning of ‘legal person’ includes partnerships (excluding foreign partnerships registered in the Cayman Islands) and extends to all companies (excluding foreign companies registered in the Cayman Islands); limited liability companies; foundation companies; limited partnerships; limited liability partnerships and exempted limited partnerships.

Conclusion

As a leader in ongoing anti-money laundering initiatives, the Cayman Islands continues to show its commitment to transparency and exceeding international standards.

HSM can assist with all beneficial ownership matters and provide the necessary advice as to the application of the beneficial ownership regime.