Bermuda is to share its register of ownership of companies with the UK’s National Crime Agency.

Michael Dunkley, the Premier, said Bermuda already shares information on beneficial ownership with Britain’s tax authorities within 24 hours of a request — but had agreed to extend access.

Mr Dunkley said the move reflected “Bermuda’s long-held commitment to deterring money-laundering and financial crime from our shores”.

He added: “The NCA has always had access to Bermuda’s central register via its longstanding criminal co-operation arrangement, but this involved certain time-consuming procedures.

“The new agreement notes that the NCA can now directly approach the Bermuda central register authorities, who maintain the register on behalf of the Minister of Finance, and includes expressed reference to our leading status as the only British Overseas Territory to have a continually updated central register already in place.”

The move follows a request earlier this month from the NCA for faster access to ownership information in the wake of the release of the massive leak of millions of pages of law firm documents contained in the Panama Papers.

Bob Richards, the finance minister, said then that British police officers were frustrated by delays which could stretch to months in getting information.

He added that the NCA wanted urgent requests to be met within an hour.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday that most UK Overseas Territories, including the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, would now share information on company ownership there with the British authorities to cut down on possibilities for tax avoidance.

He added: “For the first time UK police and law enforcement will be able to see exactly who really owns and controls every company incorporated in these territories — Bermuda, Isle of Man, Jersey, the lot.”

But Mr Cameron said he does not believe most UK MPs should be forced to make their returns public.

He explained: “We should think carefully before abandoning completely all taxpayer confidentiality in this house as some have suggested.

“I think there is a strong case for the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, and for the chancellor and shadow chancellor, because they are people who are or who wish to be responsible for the nation’s finances.”

Mr Richards has pointed out several times in international forums that Bermuda — unlike other offshore jurisdictions — had held a register of beneficial ownership for about 70 years.

And he added that the register, although not public, was open to overseas authorities investigating allegations of crime or tax evasion.