Bearer shares are live and well and living in several countries.

There are some other less known jurisdictions that have still retained bearer shares as well.

These include the Marshall Islands, Uruguay, and several other Latin American countries.
Before I go to much farther perhaps I should stop and explain exactly what bearer shares are. Bearer shares are certificates which convey corporate ownership to whomever possesses them. Such shares can be transferred by simply handing them to another person. To better understand how bearer shares work, think of another more common bearer instrument, paper money: it has value, and the presumptive owner is the person in whose possession it is found. Depending upon the jurisdiction in which the company has been founded, bearer shares may need to be temporarily exchanged for voting shares at shareholders meetings, and the person voting those shares may need to be identified--in such cases, the person voting the shares will ordinarily be an attorney so that the confidentiality of the beneficial owner of the shares can be protected.

Now you can more fully understand why the OECD hates bearer shares: they provide real privacy--if they are properly used.

PROPERLY does not include BRAZENLY. Anyone who follows the advice of certain "corporate specialists" from Nevada who advise you to simply deny ownership of the bearer share company, even though you very publicly operated it, is an idiot! If you try that in a court of law you will at best, be cited for contempt, and at worst will find yourself in prison for perjury.

In Uruguay for example, bearer shares are the norm, and registered shares (those with someone's name on them) are the exception. As such, one can even open a bank account for a Uruguay company, at some banks in Uruguay, without ever being asked about the beneficial owner. Sadly, this is not the case in all of Uruguay's banks, nor in most other countries.

One of the more interesting bearer share stories is the way in which the Marshall Islands was able to keep its bearer shares.

To fully appreciate this accomplishment, one needs to know that the main registry for Marshall Islands nonresident companies is, for all practical purposes, located in Reston, Virginia, a short distance west of Washington, DC. As such, it is fair to say that the US has more than a little influence over its operations.

However, the Marshall Islands Registry is privatized. It is owned by a group of very savvy, very influential Americans; the founder of which was Edward R. Stettinius, U.S. Secretary of State during the latter part of World War II. Consequently, it has survived and prospered while others have crashed and burned.

The Marshall Islands gave up forming international trusts as part of a deal with the United States which allowed it unhampered operation of the rest of its offshore companies. Consequently, Marshall Island corporations can have bearer shares, and Marshall Islands LLCs are among the finest in the world.

Lest you think that the Marshall Islands’ negotiations with the US government means collusion, please note this: the Marshall Islands Registry requires NO CLIENT INFORMATION WHATSOEVER! Since it has no information, it cannot betray any trust. If that were to change, so would my recommendation concerning the Marshall Islands.

So contrary to what you may have been told, bearer shares do exist, and when used judiciously are an excellent tool in the offshore practitioners toolbox.

--The Navigator