The Isle of Man’s Chief Minister, Alfred Cannan MHK, has held a crunch meeting with the UK Security Minister, Dan Jarvis MP, as talks continue on tackling illicit finance and improving access to corporate ownership data.

The talks, which took place at the Home Office in London on Monday, was also attended by representatives from Guernsey and Jersey.

Key topics up for discussion included transparency over beneficial ownership, measures to combat illicit finance, and the role of the Isle of Man in supporting UK law enforcement.

Beneficial ownership refers to the real person or people who ultimately own or control a company, property, or financial asset, even if it is registered under another name.

For example, a company might be legally registered under a business name, but the beneficial owner is the person or people who truly profits from it, makes key decisions, or controls how it operates.

There has been criticism in some quarters of the current rules around beneficial ownership in the Crown Dependencies as some believe it allows individuals to disguise their ownership of a company behind complex company structures to avoid taxes, launder money, or engage in illegal activities

Governments and law enforcement agencies use beneficial ownership registers to keep track who really controls businesses and financial assets, helping to prevent crime and ensure transparency.

However, these registers aren’t public.

In December 2023, the Crown Dependencies announced they would implement ‘obliged’ entity access in 2024 to their registers - a move which would allow certain businesses and professionals including banks and accountants to access information held on beneficial ownership registers.

They also pledged to allow ‘legitimate interest’ access to the registers in the future.

Legitimate access registers would grant access to journalists, non-governmental organisations and investigators to follow money held offshore to uncover economic crime, something the Chief Minister said the Isle of Man can progress ‘relatively swiftly.’

While limited access was implemented in the Isle of Man December last year, the timeline for full legitimate and public access remains unclear.

Back in November last year, around forty MPs wrote to the UK foreign secretary to press for faster progress in tackling tax evasion in British Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies.

Speaking earlier this week, the Chief Minister described providing greater access to registers remained a ‘significant hurdle’, saying: ‘On the point of making beneficial ownership data publicly available, the Isle of Man - alongside Guernsey and Jersey - continues to monitor developments and explore this policy area.

‘However, the Crown Dependencies remain concerned that such a policy could lead to a legal challenge

‘This follows a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union in November 2022 that open access to beneficial ownership would be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights around respect for a private life.

‘We have again emphasised the importance and need for international standards in this area to provide clarity and to ensure a level playing field for all jurisdictions.’