More than 1,200 Bermuda-based banks, trust companies, insurers and investment entities have signed up with the US tax authorities to comply with a law designed to fight tax dodging by Americans.

The US Treasury announced yesterday that about 77,000 banks and financial institutions based around the world had registered under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) rules, which come into effect on July 1.

FATCA requires financial entities in participating countries to tell the US government about Americans’ accounts that are worth more than $50,000.

Non-US firms that do not comply with FATCA face a 30 percent withholding tax on their US investment income and could effectively be frozen out of US capital markets.

The list includes 1,243 Bermuda institutions that were compliant, as of May 23 and takes in a broad swathe of financial services. Listed are not only the Island’s banks — HSBC Bermuda, Butterfield, Bermuda Commercial Bank and Clarien and some of their subsidiaries — but many other kinds of investment entities.

Included are life insurers like BF&M Life Insurance Company Ltd and AIG Life of Bermuda Ltd, asset management companies like Rutland Asset Management and Orbis Investment Management Ltd; trust companies such as Meritus Trust Company Ltd and Codan Trust Company Ltd.

Also appearing are numerous vehicles for catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities (ILS), a booming business that has attracted billions of dollars to Bermuda. Entities such as Flat Iron Re and Kilimanjaro Re are included on the list.

ILS with a value of more than $12.4 billion are listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

ILS investment managers such as CatCo Investment Management Ltd, Nephila Capital Ltd and Blue Capital Ltd are also listed as FATCA compliant.

Publication of the registration list allows firms and individuals to see who is and is not signed up. The US tax authority, the Internal Revenue Service, said it will update the list monthly.

Bermuda’s offshore rival Cayman has 14,837 institutions on the FATCA-compliant list (around 19 percent of the global total). Unlike Bermuda, Cayman is home to hundreds of banks and is also a centre for hedge funds.

Others of interest include the UK (6,264), Luxembourg (3,561), Guernsey (2,406), Jersey (1,619), Hong Kong (1,540), the Isle of Man (313), and Mauritius (728).

The FATCA law was written after a scandal involving Americans dodging US taxes through secret bank accounts in Switzerland. The list includes 4,041 Swiss entities.

The US Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs Robert Stack said in a statement that the high level of registrations so far showed “strong international support” for the law.

To access the US Treasury’s list on the internet, go to http://apps.irs.gov/app/fatcaFfiList/flu.jsf