Guernsey Companies Registry

The changes in the company formation and administration processes required to meet the demands of a 21st century economy have been significant and substantial. Since the first company was incorporated in Guernsey in 1883 to the 18,811 companies now registered (end of Dec 2007) the fundamental legal processes in company incorporation have remained largely unchanged.

The processes previously in place provided a solid foundation upon which the new Company Registry has been built but, due to the whole process taking up to two weeks to complete a registration, are no longer competitive with the speed of transactions required in the financial and legal services sector in the 21st century.

The Companies (Guernsey) Law has introduced substantial legislative changes in the incorporation and administration of companies. The Companies Registry is the means through which the new registry service will be delivered. It will provide the Island with a modern infrastructure for administering company registrations through an IT enabled service.

This combination of new legislation and advances in information technology will enable Guernsey to become competitive as a jurisdiction for company incorporations.

Main functions of the company registry

The Guernsey company regsistry holds information on all companies registered in Guernsey. The registry processes the information provided in accordance with the Companies Law.

Information is provided to the registry by company directors who are legally required to submit certain types of information and keep this data up to date i.e registered office details, company directors and shareholders etc.

In addition, it ensures that basic information regarding Guernsey registered companies is made available to the general public.