Reported by Rob Davies

UK offshore havens have missed a deadline to publish their plans to improve corporate transparency, as MPs criticised the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in particular for launching a financial crime-fighting cartoon mascot before new legislation.

Jurisdictions including the BVI and Bermuda pledged last year to approve laws allowing access to company ownership data to those with a “legitimate interest” by April 2025, with implementation to follow in June.

But four British overseas territories – the BVI, Bermuda, Anguilla and Turks & Caicos – have failed to meet the deadline, the Guardian understands.

Any further delay is likely to fuel lingering concerns that UK offshore centres famed for their secrecy are dragging their feet on the UK’s transparency push, risking a clash between Westminster and the islands’ governments.

The BVI, named in multiple international investigations into alleged financial wrongdoing, has yet to introduce legislation to make its registers of beneficial ownership available to those with a legitimate interest in seeing the information.

Read full report: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/05/uk-offshore-financial-centres-transparency-british-virgin-islands