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<p>International standards on anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing,
including transparency of legal persons, are set by the Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) of which the UK is a leading member. The Caribbean Overseas Territories (OTs)
are members of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and as such have signed up
to implement the FATF standards. Similarly, the Crown Dependencies (CDs) are members
of MONEYVAL, the equivalent organisation for Europe. The OTs and CDs are also subject
to mutual evaluations of their AML/CTF regimes through these bodies. The UK Government
continues to engage actively with the OTs and CDs to encourage them to make improvements
to their AML and CTF regimes in line with the international standards and the UK’s
approach.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>More specifically, the Government expects
each of the OTs with a financial centre to set out timetables for implementing central
registries or similarly effective systems by November 2015. The Minister for the Overseas
Territories and I wrote to the Leaders of the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands
and Bermuda, which already has a central register, in March stressing the importance
of adhering to their commitment to help combat tax evasion.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Finally,
The Government welcomes the commitment already made by the Government of Gibraltar
to implement the EU Fourth Money Laundering Directive which includes a central register
of company beneficial ownership.</p>
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