May 11, 2016 - 3:13 PM
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands - The Cayman Islands has become the latest financial centre vowing to join an initiative aimed at sharing details on company ownership to make it tougher for tax cheats and criminals to avoid detection.
The British territory's financial services ministry said in a Wednesday statement that it will join an effort to develop a "global standard" for the sharing of beneficial ownership registers.
This would make it easier to identify people hidden behind shell companies.
The tiny Caribbean territory is a well-known haven for private equity.
Following a leak of documents from a Panama-based law firm, the E.U.'s five biggest economies last month agreed to share company ownership information and urged others to do the same.
The "Panama Papers" leak has put tax evasion at the top of the international agenda.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016