The Group of International Finance Centre Supervisors (GIFCS) has issued a new Standard on the Regulation of Trust and Company Service Providers ('TCSPs').
The Standard, the first of its type, introduces a new minimum benchmark for businesses administering international trusts and companies to follow. It was formally adopted at GIFCS’ Plenary meeting last month.
The GIFCS Standard is intended to promote and reinforce high standards in the sector among its membership, many of whom already regulate TCSP activity. The Standard addresses matters of both prudential and conduct regulation, and is designed to complement the international supervisory standards of the Basel Committee, IOSCO and IAIS.
Those parts of the Standard that address financial crime are underpinned by the Recommendations of the FATF on the prevention of money laundering and the countering of terrorism financing, especially those requiring intermediaries to know who are the ultimate beneficial owners behind the companies, and the beneficiaries and key functionaries behind the trusts, which they administer.
The new Standard brings together GIFCS experience in implementing oversight regimes into a demanding benchmark for regulation of the sector to follow. It also coincides with the greater focus being
placed on beneficial ownership by the G8 and G20 groups of countries, and by other initiatives.
John Aspden, Chairman of GIFCS, said that “Trust and company administration business is a sector which rightly attracts considerable scrutiny. This Standard will be applied to our own members through an assessment process, and we hope will be adopted by larger jurisdictions many of whom have yet to introduce any formal oversight arrangements of their own”.
The new Standard can be viewed here.