Beneficial owner
The natural person who ultimately owns or controls a customer, or on whose behalf a transaction is carried out.
For a company, beneficial ownership usually means holding more than a set share of the capital or votes, or exercising control by other means. For a trust, it reaches the settlor, trustees, protector, beneficiaries and anyone else with effective control.
Several jurisdictions keep central registers of beneficial ownership, and firms must report discrepancies between the register and what their own due diligence found.
Where the rules use it.
- Guernsey Beneficial Ownership RegimeResident agent duties to identify and register beneficial owners of Guernsey legal persons.Guernsey · 3 controls
- FATF RecommendationsThe 40 Recommendations — the international standard every national AML/CFT/CPF regime is measured against.Global · 8 controls
- EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives (4AMLD–6AMLD)The directive-based regime transposed into member state law, until the single rulebook applies.European Union · 6 controls