Beneficial Ownership Transparency Regulations (2026 Revision)

Summary

This is the consolidated 2026 Revision of the Beneficial Ownership Transparency Regulations, which sit under the Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act (2026 Revision) and set out the detailed mechanics for Cayman Islands beneficial ownership registers maintained by corporate services providers (CSPs) on behalf of legal persons (companies, LLCs, LLPs, exempted limited partnerships and partnerships). It consolidates the original 2024 Regulations with the 2025 and 2026 amendment regulations.

• Legal person duties: Supply additional particulars to their CSP, including date of death of a beneficial owner, senior managing official or trustee who has ceased to function, and updates when information becomes out of date.
• CSP duties: Record 'pending' status where beneficial ownership particulars are not yet confirmed, update registers, note and manage restrictions notices (including their issuance and withdrawal), and deposit beneficial ownership information with CIMA's competent authority on a periodic basis.
• Administrative fines regime: Fine notices, with appeal rights to a competent authority and a review committee.
• Holding and voting rules: Rules for determining direct/indirect holding of interests, joint arrangements, and voting rights calculations.
• Fee schedule: Includes an annual fee for search-platform access by licensed financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses or professions (DNFBPs).

Overall the document is a technical, in-force implementing regulation rather than a policy notice: it creates ongoing compliance duties for legal persons and their corporate services providers around record-keeping, timely updates, periodic deposits, and handling of restrictions notices and administrative fines.

Key obligations

• A legal person must provide additional required matters in writing to its corporate services provider (e.g., date of death of a registrable beneficial owner, senior managing official, or relevant trustee who has ceased to function).
• A legal person that becomes aware that beneficial ownership information has ceased to be current must provide the corporate services provider with written confirmation of amended particulars within thirty days of becoming aware of that fact.
• A corporate services provider must update the beneficial ownership register upon receipt of amended particulars from the legal person.
• A corporate services provider must note 'pending' in the register where required particulars of a registrable beneficial owner, senior managing official or trustee have not yet been identified, confirmed or verified; an uninterrupted 'pending' status of three or more calendar months creates a presumption of breach of section 6 of the principal Act.
• Corporate services providers must deposit beneficial ownership information (or a no-change indicator) with the competent authority not less than once each month, in the manner specified by the competent authority, except every ninety days for a legal person in liquidation and every three hundred and sixty-five days for an ordinary resident company.
• When a corporate services provider issues a restrictions notice, it must note the issuance date in the register, and must include specified content (issuance date, identification of the relevant interest, effect of the notice, offence warning, right to apply to the Grand Court, and treatment of pre-existing third-party security interests).
• Where a corporate services provider is required to withdraw a restrictions notice, it must send the withdrawal notice to the legal person within fourteen days after the day it is required to withdraw the notice, and must update the register and its records accordingly.
• The Registrar may impose administrative fines for breaches listed in Schedule 1 by issuing an administrative fine notice containing specified details (breach, amount, payment method and deadline, effects of non-payment, appeal process and reasons).
• A person subject to an administrative fine may appeal to the competent authority using the prescribed form in Schedule 2.
• Licensed financial institutions or designated non-financial businesses or professions accessing beneficial ownership information via the search platform must pay an annual fee of $1,500 per user.

Applies to

legal persons (companies, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, exempted limited partnerships, partnerships), corporate services providers, licensed fund administrators, licensed financial institutions, designated non-financial businesses or professions (DNFBPs)

Deadlines

• within thirty days of becoming aware: A legal person must notify its corporate services provider in writing of amended/updated beneficial ownership particulars once information has ceased to be current.
• within fourteen days: A corporate services provider must send a withdrawal notice to the legal person after being required to withdraw a restrictions notice.
• not less than once each month: Standard periodic deposit of beneficial ownership information (or no-change indicator) by corporate services providers with the competent authority.
• every ninety days: Reduced deposit period for beneficial ownership information for a legal person that is in liquidation.
• every three hundred and sixty-five days: Deposit period for beneficial ownership information for an ordinary resident company.
• uninterrupted period of three or more calendar months: If the register shows 'pending' status for this length of time, the legal person is presumed to be in breach of section 6 of the principal Act.

Related documents

• This document replaces Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Amendment) Regulations, 2025 (SL 16 of 2025)
• This document is made under Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act (2026 Revision)
• This document replaces Beneficial Ownership Transparency Regulations, 2024 (SL 26 of 2024)