Anti-Money Laundering, Beneficial Ownership and Due Diligence

The subject of the chapter. Every Nevis trust, limited liability company and multiform foundation reaches the world through a licensed service provider. The provider forms the entity, keeps its registered office, acts as trustee or provides its managers, and opens its bank accounts. Federation law makes that provider responsible for knowing who stands behind the entity, for keeping evidence of what it learned, and for reporting what it suspects. This chapter examines those duties: the statutes and regulations that impose them, the businesses they reach, the customer due diligence they require for each Nevis vehicle, where the resulting beneficial-ownership information is held, the reporting and consent regime for suspected money laundering, and the penalties and international evaluations that shape how the regime is enforced. It closes with an onboarding checklist for a Nevis structure.

Federal law applied in Nevis. The anti-money-laundering statutes are Acts of the federal Parliament, and the regulations under them are made by the federal Minister, in some cases with the concurrence of the Premier of Nevis. They apply in Nevis without any Nevis Ordinance. Supervision is divided: the Financial Services Regulatory Commission is the federal body "responsible for anti-money laundering" for the whole Federation, and its Nevis Branch, through the Regulator, examines Nevis licensees. Financial Services Regulatory Commission Act, Cap. 21.10, § 4(2)(a), (d) (rev. ed. 2020); Nevis Trust and Corporate Service Providers Ordinance, No. 2 of 2021, § 32(2). The division of legislative competence that produces this pattern is examined in chapter 1, and the Commission, the Regulator and the licensing of service providers in chapter 4 (see supra chs. 1, 4).

The instruments. Seven instruments carry most of the weight:

1. the Proceeds of Crime and Asset Recovery Act, No. 9 of 2020, which creates the money-laundering offences, the duty to disclose, the consent regime and the tipping-off offence, and designates the Financial Intelligence Unit as the reporting authority;
2. the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, 2011, which set the customer-due-diligence, record-keeping and reporting procedures for every person carrying on relevant business;
3. the Financial Services (Implementation of Industry Standards) Regulations, 2011, which make the Commission's Guidance Notes compulsory and contain the specific rules for fiduciary services;
4. the Nevis Trust and Corporate Service Providers Ordinance, 2021, which licenses the providers and subjects them to examination;
5. the Financial Services (Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions) Regulations, 2026, which extend registration and supervision to accountants, real estate agents and dealers in precious metals and stones;
6. the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (Administrative Penalties) Regulations, 2026, which allow the Commission to fine without prosecuting; and
7. the entity Ordinances themselves, which decide what records a trust, company or foundation keeps and where.

The Anti-Terrorism Act, Cap. 4.02, the Anti-Proliferation (Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction) Act, No. 10 of 2020, and the Financial Intelligence Unit Act, Cap. 21.09, complete the framework. Financial Services (Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions) Regulations, S.R.O. No. 17 of 2026, sched. 1, para. 1 (listing the instruments).

What the regime means for a client. A person who settles a Nevis trust or forms a Nevis company meets the regime as a set of requests: identification, proof of address, references, an explanation of the source of the funds and of the wealth from which they come, and an account of the structure's purpose. The requests are the provider's statutory obligations. A provider that cannot complete them must decline or end the relationship and consider whether to report. Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, S.R.O. No. 46 of 2011, reg. 4(9) (St. Kitts & Nevis). The planner who prepares the client for those requests, and who can explain the structure's purpose in a sentence, shortens onboarding and avoids the suspicion that an unexplained structure invites (see infra ¶ 2890).

Confidentiality and transparency. Nevis protects the confidentiality of its structures. The trust register is closed to inspection, the by-laws of a foundation are confidential, and the Confidential Relationships Act makes unauthorised disclosure an offence. Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance, Cap. 7.03(N), § 46 (rev. ed. 2017); Multiform Foundations Ordinance, Cap. 7.08(N), §§ 6(2), 113 (rev. ed. 2017) (see supra ¶¶ 580, 1980). Confidentiality toward the public coexists with transparency toward the authorities. The service provider holds the beneficial-ownership information, the authorities can require it, and a disclosure made under the money-laundering statutes is protected from any claim that it breached a duty of confidence. Proceeds of Crime and Asset Recovery Act, No. 9 of 2020, § 173(2) (St. Kitts & Nevis) [hereinafter POCARA]. The chapter returns to that balance at ¶ 2860.

Method. Section and regulation numbers are cited to the texts as published by the Commission's Nevis Branch and in the Official Gazette. Where an instrument has been amended, the amendment is cited. The chapter states the rules as they stand in November 2026 and identifies the points on which no Nevis decision has been found. The relationship with the exchange of tax information, which uses much of the same beneficial-ownership information, is examined in chapter 27 (see supra ch. 27).