Director Registration Regime

Further to legislation passed by the States of Guernsey last week, the Commission has launched today a new director registration regime for individuals holding certain categories of directorships following amendments to the Criminal Justice (Proceeds of Crime) Law, 1999 and an amendment to the Regulations of Fiduciaries, Administration Businesses and Company Directors, etc (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020 Law. These establish a registration regime for individuals who use the “up to six directorships” exemption from fiduciary licensing where no other exemption from registration applies.

Individuals who currently use the “up to six directorships” exemption are required to comply with the anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (“AMLCFT”) measures in Schedule 3 to the Proceeds of Crime Law, but they are not supervised. Under this registration regime there is a reduced set of AMLCFT obligations for them to comply with. The registration regime will enable the Commission to supervise their compliance with these requirements.

The development of the regime has considered feedback from consultations issued late, last year. It affects Bailiwick residents who use the exemption in the Fiduciaries Law, which allows them to hold directorships of six or fewer companies which do not fall under any other exemptions from licensing in the Fiduciaries Law or exemptions from registration in Schedule 5 to the Proceeds of Crime Law. This means that the director registration regime will not directly impact individuals who rely on other exemptions under the Fiduciaries Law including unrewarded directors (such as recreational or charitable directorships), directors of companies based in Guernsey which are trading locally (such as local florists, grocers, restaurants), employees/officers of licensed trust and corporate service providers holding directorships in the course of their duties (such as licensed company administrators, fund administrators), directors of supervised bodies (such as authorised/licensed collective investment schemes, insurers and insurance managers) and directors of prescribed businesses (such as estate agents and law and accountancy firms).

Individuals qualifying for registration have until 1 October 2023 to register. Details on the regime which explain who should register, the application process for registering and the regulatory obligations upon them are available through the Director Registration Regime page.

The Commission is hosting workshops over the summer on the registration regime which will include information on how to register and an explanation of their AMLCFT obligations. These workshops are being held at the Commission’s offices on Thursday 20 July, Wednesday 16 August and Friday 15 September from 9am to noon.  Those wishing to attend are invited to contact the Commission on [email protected] to book a place.

(Note: The amendments to the Fiduciaries Law and the amendments to Proceeds of Crime Law, which were passed on 5 July 2023, will shortly be reflected within the consolidated versions on the Guernsey Legal Resources website. In the meantime they can be found via the following links: The Fiduciaries Law, The Proceeds of Crime Law)

To further take into account the impact of the registration regime, in December 2022, the Commission also consulted on Exemptions of Directorships Connected to Authorised and Registered Collective Investment Schemes and today publishes its feedback on that consultation.

Following that consultation,  new regulations have been made providing for the exemption from licensing under the Fiduciaries Law of the activity of acting as a director of certain companies connected to registered or authorised collective investment schemes. These regulations extend the scope of licensing exemption by introducing a revised version of the previously proposed exemption for Collective Investment Scheme-connected directorships and by introducing three additional, new categories of director exemption. The effect of this broadening of available exemptions under the Fiduciaries Law,  is to reduce the extent of directorship activity using the “up to six” exemption, and hence reduce the number of directors who will be required to register with the Commission.