Govt to expose hidden company owners with new beneficial ownership register

The government is moving to strengthen oversight of Barbados’ international business sector by introducing a beneficial ownership register to identify the real individuals behind companies and corporate structures.

Delivering the national budget, Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn announced that ministers had approved a policy to establish the register, bringing Barbados in line with global efforts to combat financial crime.

“Beneficial ownership refers to the natural persons who ultimately own or control the financial benefits of a company or its assets,” Straughn explained, noting that such individuals are often different from the legal owners listed on official documents.

He said the initiative was critical to improving transparency and strengthening the country’s regulatory framework.

“Knowledge of the beneficial owner of a company is critical if we are going to increase our corporate transparency and effectively fight money laundering, tax evasion, and financing of terrorism,” he said.

Several jurisdictions worldwide had already established public registers to identify the individuals behind complex corporate structures, particularly when shell companies are used to obscure ownership, Straughn said.

“This process is necessary if we seriously intend to enhance corporate governance in Barbados, and to increase accountability, while at the same time making it harder to use shell companies in order to evade taxes or sanctions,” he said.

The new framework will allow authorities to identify the individuals who ultimately own or control companies registered in Barbados, strengthening both domestic oversight and international cooperation.

Implementation of the system will take place in phases. The first phase will focus on legal reforms, including drafting legislation to introduce appropriate sanctions and penalties, as well as provisions to allow information-sharing between local and international authorities.

The second phase will involve the digital rollout of the register, requiring the development of secure IT systems to protect sensitive data.

This will include building infrastructure to ensure the integrity of the system and safeguards against cyber threats, data breaches and unauthorised access.

Following that, the government will establish a business compliance unit to act as an intermediary for companies that do not use corporate or trust service providers.

Straughn said this would be particularly important for Barbados’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, numbering more than 10 000, which will also fall under the new framework.

“Our target… is for the Barbados beneficial ownership framework to be functional by May 2027,” he said. (TD)