The Cayman Islands will be implementing enhancements to the beneficial ownership regime currently in place during the course of 2024. The Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act 2023 (Act) was passed by the Cayman Islands Parliament on 23 November 2023. The Act is not yet effective, and we will keep you updated as to the implementation process over the course of 2024. The key aim of the Act is to pull together the various rules relating to beneficial ownership currently split between several laws and regulations for specific types of entities, into a single piece of unified legislation. At present, the beneficial ownership provisions for companies, limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and limited liability companies (LLCs) are set out respectively in the Companies Act 2023 (Revised) (Companies Act), the Limited Liability Partnership Act (2023 Revision) and the Limited Liability Companies Act (2023 Revision). The Act will consolidate, and therefore simplify the beneficial ownership regime to ensure a consistent approach to the treatment of in-scope entities. The current beneficial ownership regime applies to companies incorporated under the Companies Act, LLCs and LLPs. The Act will extend the regime to foundation companies, limited partnerships and exempted limited partnerships. The expansion of the regime to these entities will be in stages and will give the in-scope entities time to assess their obligations and, where required, to adhere with their obligations to establish a register of beneficial ownership. The Act amends the definition of “beneficial owner” so that it is more aligned with the definition under the Cayman Islands Anti-Money Laundering Regulations (the AML Regulations), save that the relevant percentage for determining “control” will remain at 25% or more (not 10% or more, which is the threshold under the current AML Regulations). [...]