Extension of the disclosure requirements for non-UK trustees on the Register of Overseas Entities

On 23 June 2022, the draft Register of Overseas Entities (Delivery, Protection and Trust Services) Regulations 2022 were published. The regulations are due to come into force on the same day as the Register of Overseas Entities, which we are told is coming soon.

In Part 4 of the regulations, the Secretary of State has specified that non-UK regulated providers of trust services are to be treated as subject to their own disclosure requirements. Why is this important? The short answer is that it will require the disclosure of information about trusts where a non-UK trustee is a beneficial owner.

A beneficial owner will only appear on the Register of Overseas Entities if they are registrable. An entity will only be registrable if it is subject to its own disclosure requirements. Under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, entities are broadly only subject to their own disclosure requirements if they are required to maintain a Persons with Significant Control Register or are the registered owner of UK land, such that they are registered on the Register of Overseas Entities in their own right. The regulations have extended the definition of which entities are subject to their own disclosure requirements to automatically cover non-UK regulated corporate trustees.

By making non-UK regulated trustees subject to their own disclosure requirements they will automatically be registrable, where they are a beneficial owner of an overseas entity. As a result, it will be necessary to provide the following information about the trusts involved:

• The name of the trust.
• The date on which it was established.
• Details of the previous trustees.
• The name, date of birth, nationality and address of the settlor and beneficiaries of the trust.
• The name, date of birth, nationality, address of a person who can control the trust and the date on which they took on the role.

Without this extension in many cases it would not be necessary to disclose details of the trusts. The extended definition has significantly increased the amount of disclosure required where non-UK trusts indirectly hold UK land. However, at present, the information disclosed about the trusts will not be publicly available, unlike the rest of the Register.