The GIFC is chaired by John Aspden, who is the Isle of Man’s Financial Supervision Commission chief executive, and its members include Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands and Labuan.
In a statement, the GIFC said the new ‘Standard on the Regulation of Trust and Company Service Providers’ (TCSPs) was designed to complement the international supervisory standards of bank regulator the Basel Committee, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.
A key objective was that TCSPs are adequately regulated and supervised so that information on the ultimate beneficial owners behind trust and company vehicles “can at all times be accessed by competent authorities”. This oversight also covers the nature of underlying funds.
Parts of the benchmark standard that address financial crime are underpinned by the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force’s on the prevention of money laundering and the countering of terrorism financing.
Aspden said: “Trust and company administration business is a sector which rightly attracts considerable scrutiny. This standard will be applied to our own members through an assessment process, and we hope will be adopted by larger jurisdictions many of whom have yet to introduce any formal oversight arrangements of their own”.
Philip Nicol-Gent, who chaired the working group which drafted the new standard, added “An effective regulatory regime means that standards can be enforced and sanctions applied. Only in this way can all jurisdictions demonstrate their determination to try to make sure that trusts and companies are not used for abusive purposes.”
The other members of GIFC are Aruba,Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cook Islands, Curacao and St Maarten, Macau, Mauritius, Panama, Samoa, and Vanuatu.
