The European Union’s 4th Anti-Money Laundering directive requires all EU Member States to put into national law provisions requiring corporate and legal entities to obtain and hold adequate, accurate and current information on their beneficial owners.
On 18th November 2018 the Anti Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act 2018 which transposes the EU 4th AML directive into Irish Law was signed into law by Michael D Higgins. One of the principal aims of the directive is to ensure that individuals with significant economic interests in a relevant entity can be identified for the purposes of customer due diligence to combat terrorist financing and money laundering.
The purpose of setting up the RBO register is to improve corporate trust and transparency in Ireland and the EU by making it clear who ultimately owns and controls the relevant entities. The effect of the recent legislation is that these relevant entities (all companies and also includes Industrial and Provident Societies) must do the following:
- Create an internal register of their beneficial owners. This information must then be submitted through an online portal at www.rbo.gov.ie.
- Where the beneficial owners are not known, take all reasonable steps to ensure the beneficial ownership information is gathered and recorded on the beneficial ownership register.
- Where no beneficial owners can be identified, enter the names of the directors/senior managers of the relevant entity on the RBO as the ‘beneficial owners’.
A Beneficial Owner refers to a natural person who owns or controls a legal entity through direct or indirect ownership of a sufficient percentage of the shares or voting rights or ownership interest in that company. Any person who holds 25% or more of the company’s shares, whether directly or indirectly, is a beneficial owner. In the case of indirect ownership, for example a trust structure or corporate entity as a shareholder, there is a legal requirement to file and disclose details of the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO).
The RBO must contain the following information in respect of each beneficial owner:
- Name, date of birth and residential address
- Nationality
- PPS number
- Extent of beneficial ownership
- Date of entry/cessation as a beneficial owner
The RBO must be updated whenever there is a change in Beneficial Ownership.
RBO submissions will be accepted online from 29th July 2019. There is no paper based filing option. The deadline for submission of the RBO information is 22nd November 2019. Failure of an entity to comply with any of the above obligations is a criminal offence and can result in a fine of €5,000 on summary conviction and may also result in a fine not exceeding €500,000 if convicted on indictment.
Regards
Sean Grahame
