Statutory Instrument No. 110 of 2019 entitled European Union (Anti Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations 2019 (“Regulations”) was signed into law by the Minister of Finance on the 22nd of March 2019.
The purpose of the Regulations is to establish a Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies and the appointment of a Registrar of Beneficial Ownership.
The Register of Beneficial Ownership (“RBO”) is a register of information held by companies and industrial and provident societies in their own internal registries in respect of the natural persons who are their beneficial owners/controllers. The information that is required to be filed with the RBO in respect of each beneficial owner (who must be a natural person) is as follows:
- Forename & Surname.
- Date of birth.
- Personal Public Service Number (PPSN).
- Nationality.
- County of Residence.
- A statement of the nature of the interest held by each beneficial owner (e.g. controlling shareholder).
- A statement of the extent of the interest held by each beneficial owner (e.g. controller of 26% of shares in company).
- The date on which each natural person was entered in the company’s own register as a beneficial owner.
- The date of cessation as beneficial owner.
- If, having exhausted all possible means, no natural persons are identified as beneficial owners, there shall be entered in the register the names and details of the natural person(s) who hold the position(s) of senior managing official(s) of the company/I&P. Relevant entities shall keep records of the actions taken to identify their beneficial owners.
- Details of the presenter making the entry in the RBO on behalf of the company, i.e. name, contact details and capacity in which they are filing.
Part 3 of the Regulations, which relates to the establishment of the central register, will come into operation on 22 June 2019. In accordance with the Regulations, the Registrar of Beneficial Ownership will begin to accept on-line filings from 22 June 2019, after which there will be five months for companies and Industrial and Provident Societies to file their Register of Beneficial Ownership data without being in breach of their statutory duty to file.
For further information on the Regulations and your filing obligations contact our Corporate and Commercial team
John Sheehan
Head of Corporate and Commercial
Telephone: 021 7300200
Email: jsheehan@jwod.ie