Beneficial ownership registries, country by country
Where ownership records are public, where they are not, and what changed this year.
UK PSC is public, EU is mixed.
The UK Persons of Significant Control register has been public since 2016 and remains so. The EU AMLA framework permits public access but member states implement it differently. Luxembourg restricts to legitimate interest. Germany has had a successful legitimate-interest model. France remains public to anyone.
Offshore is closing slowly.
Cayman, BVI, and Bermuda have all moved to make beneficial ownership accessible to law enforcement and competent authorities. Public access is not the default in these jurisdictions, but the framework now exists for legitimate-interest access. The structural picture has tightened materially over five years.
What we watch.
We watch the legal basis for access in each jurisdiction quarterly. If your file holds through a structure that becomes more accessible due to law change, you hear from us in the quarterly brief. We do not advise on restructuring. We surface the change so you can talk to counsel.