Legislation to introduce a central register of beneficial ownership will be introduced into the House of Key this week - but the government has held back from making this register public as it is in the UK.

Under current Manx law, companies and trusts are required to know the identity of beneficial owners and inform the authorities if requested. But such information is not made public.

The Beneficial Ownership Bill will be moved by Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan MHK.

It has been developed in line with a commitment made to the UK government in April last year, to enhance arrangements for the sharing of information about the beneficial ownership of companies.

Other Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories have all made the same commitment.

The agreement with the UK provides for the sharing of adequate, accurate and timely beneficial ownership information for the prevention and detection of serious and organised crime, such as corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing.

Information held on the central database will be accessible by certain Isle of Man authorities and, on request to Financial Intelligence Unit, by the intelligence and law enforcement agencies of countries with which the Isle of Man has a beneficial ownership sharing agreement (currently only the UK).

The database will be maintained as part of the Companies Registry and overseen by the Financial Services Authority.

The Beneficial Ownership Bill was subject to public consultation in November and December last year.