Beneficial ownership regime: Contact person services

Introduction

Under the Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act, 2023 ("BOTA"), entities that are registered as investment funds may avail themselves of an alternative route to compliance with the BOTA by appointing a Contact Person as a liaison between the fund and the competent authority for the BOTA (the Cayman Islands Registrar). This guide provides practical guidance to entities which have appointed Walkers Professional Services (WPS) as Contact Person. 

While WPS does not need to maintain the beneficial ownership information itself, it must have access to such information so that it can provide it within 24 hours of a request being made, or such other time as the competent authority may reasonably stipulate.

This guide is intended to help prepare for the event that an information request is received. In addition, we expect fund governance bodies may ask about practical compliance aspects of the BOTA, and this guide may be of assistance in addressing these questions. 

As this aspect of the Cayman Islands' beneficial ownership reporting regime is new, the information in this guide may change as practice evolves – please contact your Walkers team if you have any questions. For more information about the BOTA generally, please see our advisory. 

Process upon a request

1. Request from a competent authority 

The request will be received into a central email inbox that is monitored by senior WPS individuals around our global network to ensure continuous coverage. The WPS team will promptly advise your Walkers relationship team of the request.

2. Identify beneficial owners and formulate response

WPS will promptly contact you using the contact details we have on our records. We recommend  that you provide contact details for at least two individuals. While we expect most requests will be specific as to the information sought, you may need the assistance of the fund's administrator where you do not have direct access to the fund's register of members. You should ensure your contact details for your administrator are current and that your administrator is aware of the fund's obligations under the BOTA. 

To the extent you require assistance working through the request itself (for example, identifying who the registrable beneficial owners of an entity are for purposes of the BOTA), our Regulatory & Risk Advisory Group will be available to assist. Ideally this will have been considered and determined in advance, so any contact on receipt of a request is to confirm any changes.

3. Request from competent authority

In the event further time is required to respond, WPS can request that from the competent authority.

Once the information is confirmed, WPS will file this with the competent authority, completing the request.