Bermuda company search: an account, an ID, and a register that shows shareholders

The Registrar's guide to what information is public and the Companies Act 1981 together give this map. Fees are in Bermuda dollars, which trade at par with the US dollar.

The Registrar says it plainly: you need an account to search, to file and to order certificates, and the ID rule applies to anyone who wants to search, not only to people filing. There's no guest search.

The account covers companies, LLCs, exempted partnerships and permit companies. It does not unlock the beneficial ownership register, which is separate. Liquidation filings also sit outside it.

Why not use a data vendor instead? They resell the same records and need an account just like you. For one or two companies, the Registrar is cheaper.

Under sections 65 and 66 of the Companies Act, the register of members is kept at the registered office and is open for inspection by members of the public without charge, for at least two hours each business day. It lists every member's name and address, the shares held and when they joined. The company may close it for up to 30 days a year, after a newspaper notice.

You can also ask for a copy. The company must send it within 14 days of a written request, and the fee is capped by law. Build your request and see the cap here.

Send it to the registered office address shown on the Registrar's record, which is usually the corporate service provider's. The law backs you: knowingly refusing inspection is an offence, and the court can order the copy to be sent.

Bermuda doesn't call it good standing. The certificate of compliance confirms the company exists and is in good standing, and you order it through the same online account. An unpaid annual fee is enough to lose it.

The Registrar's own price page still shows the certificate total as to be confirmed, so treat $200 as our sum of the two lines.

Using it abroad is simpler than for most documents: a certificate of compliance is one of the government papers the Parliamentary Registry apostilles without a notary first. Walk in clients pay by card only, mornings from 8:30am to 1pm.

Anyone holding 25% or more, or controlling the company another way, goes on the Registrar's central register of beneficial ownership. It isn't public. Since the Beneficial Ownership Regulations 2026 took effect on 25 September 2026, two groups can apply. Banks, service providers and other regulated firms get the full entry for due diligence. People with a legitimate interest get four fields:

Would you qualify?

One catch as of 13 November 2026: the Registrar's pages for both routes still say coming soon for how to apply. Owners facing a serious risk, such as kidnapping or harassment, can ask to be exempted before any disclosure is made.

Bermuda's insurance and fund industries attract impersonators: firms that borrow a Bermuda address or a real company's name. Two free tools from the Bermuda Monetary Authority catch most of them.

1. Check the Registrar's record

   Name, number, incorporation date and previous names. A company formed last month claiming decades of history is your answer.

   $13 a document
2. Search the BMA register

   The BMA regulated entities search is free with no account. Insurers, banks, fund administrators, investment and digital asset businesses must be there, with the licence class and date.

   Free
3. Read the BMA warning list

   The warning list names firms that claim Bermuda links without a Bermuda incorporation or licence.

   Free
4. Inspect the registers of members and directors

   Chapter 3's request. Do the people you're dealing with appear?

   Free to inspect
5. Order a certificate of compliance

   For a large contract or a bank's file.

   About $200

Say a "Bermuda reinsurer" offers cover on your fleet at half the market rate. If its name isn't on the BMA register under Insurance, stop there: in Bermuda, insurance needs a licence, and the register shows it.

The Registrar hasn't published a glossary of the words its portal shows, so here's what the Act says happens, in order.

1. RegisteredExists from the date on its certificate of incorporation.
2. Fee 3 months lateMust stop carrying on business until paid; $100 a day if it carries on.
3. Two letters, then noticeA newspaper notice gives three months to respond.
4. Struck offDissolved on publication. Officers and members stay liable.
5. RestoredBy the court, on application within 20 years.

Directors can also apply for a voluntary strike off, which ends the same way: dissolution when the notice is published. Inspecting a struck off or dissolved company's records costs $30 a document instead of $13.

Bermuda banned nominee directors on 10 December 2025, and the register of members is open by law. So a Bermuda company suits owners who are comfortable being named. Here's what shows for a company we form with you as director and sole shareholder.

Our Bermuda exempted company is US$5,685 in year one and US$4,490 a year after, with the government fees, the licensed local team and the resident director the law requires inside. If you'd rather not be named, a jurisdiction with a closed member register suits you better; our offshore company comparison sets them side by side.