Business Registers in Antigua and Barbuda: ABIPCO and the IBC Regime

Overview

In Antigua and Barbuda, company records sit with the Antigua and Barbuda Intellectual Property and Commerce Office, or ABIPCO. Some sources shorten this to IPCO, and you will see both online, but the official site uses ABIPCO at abipco.gov.ag. ABIPCO runs the national companies registry under the Companies Act 1995 and publishes a free name search that anyone can use. The offshore side of the country sits apart, under the Financial Services Regulatory Commission, the FSRC, which licenses and supervises International Business Corporations, the IBCs.

This is a small Eastern Caribbean state with a long-standing offshore industry, and its currency, the East Caribbean Dollar, is pegged to the US dollar. For KYB the picture splits in two. Domestic companies are reasonably easy to check, because ABIPCO confirms that a company exists and will sell a certified extract of its fuller records. IBCs are another matter. Nothing about their directors, shareholders, or accounts is filed publicly, and beneficial ownership is held by licensed agents instead of being published. So once an IBC enters the picture, the people behind a company are usually not something you can read off a public source.

Official Registers

ABIPCO Companies Registry

ABIPCO administers the commercial registry under the Companies Act 1995, which follows the modern Commonwealth Caribbean template. Its Limited Internet Search Facility is free and lives at abipco.gov.ag. Most people open it to check whether a name is already taken, but it also confirms the basics: the company name and registration number, the date of incorporation, the type (domestic company, IBC, or partnership), and the current status, whether active, struck off, dissolved, or in liquidation.

That free search only takes you so far. It does not show directors, shareholders, or filed documents. For those you order a certified extract from ABIPCO and pay a fee, usually around XCD 50 (roughly USD 19). Every company also has to file an annual return within 30 days of its incorporation anniversary, and that obligation is what keeps the registry's core details current.

Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC)

The offshore sector goes back to the International Business Corporations Act of 1982, and the FSRC now regulates it under the Financial Services Regulatory Commission Act 2013. The FSRC licenses IBCs, registered agents, and the other international financial entities based in the country. Unlike domestic companies, IBCs do not turn up in an open search. Their records sit with the licensed registered agent and with the FSRC, so confirming an IBC normally means working through its agent. The regime is built to meet international standards such as the OECD Common Reporting Standard and the FATF recommendations, though that information flows to the authorities rather than to the public.

Beneficial Ownership

Beneficial ownership runs under the Beneficial Ownership (Automatic Exchange of Information) Act 2017, amended in 2024. Licensed registered agents collect the data, hold it, and report it to the competent authority. The register itself is closed to the public, because it exists for law enforcement and tax exchange, so a third party cannot pull UBO data from it. This is where an Antiguan entity gets hard to see through, and it bites hardest with IBCs.

Registration and Publication Requirements

Domestic Companies

Domestic companies incorporate under the Companies Act 1995 and come in three shapes: limited by shares, limited by guarantee, or unlimited. To register you file Articles of Incorporation and By-laws together with a statutory declaration from an Attorney-at-Law, and you keep an address in Antigua and Barbuda. These companies file annual returns, their basics are confirmable through the registry, and the rest arrives on a certified extract. Financial statements generally stay off the public record.

International Business Corporations (IBCs)

An IBC is a share-capital company formed under the IBC Act. There is no minimum capital, and it cannot trade inside Antigua and Barbuda except in service of its international business. Every IBC keeps a registered office and a resident agent in the country. IBCs do not file annual financial statements, sit for statutory audits, or lodge annual returns the way domestic companies do, and their directors, shareholders, and beneficial owners stay unpublished. Of everything in the jurisdiction, they give up the least to a public search.

Partnerships and Business Names

Partnerships and business names, sole proprietorships included, register with ABIPCO and show up by type. A business name registration records the trading name and whoever stands behind it, but it carries far less structured detail than an incorporated company.

Foreign Companies

A foreign company doing business locally registers as an external company under section 175 of the Companies Act, which means it has to keep an address in Antigua and Barbuda. The parent stays under its home law, so what you can learn locally is limited.

Summary

With Topograph

Topograph pulls Antiguan company data from the IPCO register through a single company-data block that runs fast and returns authoritative data, alongside the free name search.

Available Data

Company Profile

• Legal name with the entity number, which is the registration number ABIPCO assigns and the identifier we resolve on
• Company type, such as domestic company, International Business Corporation, or partnership, with a standardized English category
• Status, covering active, struck off, in liquidation, and dissolved
• Date of incorporation
• Registered address, where the register shows it

Search

• Resolution of a company by its exact entity number, plus the free name search

Legal Representatives and Shareholders

• Directors and shareholders do not appear in the free search and come from a certified extract where the company type allows. For IBCs they are not published and may not be available.

Available Documents

Beyond the certified extract, director and shareholder details stay confidential, and beneficial ownership is never published. So with an International Business Corporation, the people behind the company are usually out of reach from public sources.

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