Legal entities can be used to disguise involvement in terrorist financing, money laundering, tax evasion, corruption, fraud, and other financial crimes. Requiring the disclosure of key individuals who own or control a legal entity (the beneficial owners) is often required to ensure the legal entity is conducting legitimate business.

Solicitors and company secretaries are frequently asked by third parties[1] or by clients on behalf of third parties, to confirm and / or certify the beneficial ownership of a client company. In many instances this information is not publicly available. However, the company client ought itself to be able to provide this information and as mentioned above, is required to provide it to a designated person[2]. 

As part of this certification, a solicitor may be requested to provide information on relevant individuals, who could be either the beneficial owner(s) or the senior managing officials of the client company, including their legal name, residential address, nationality, date of birth and / or the nature of their ownership and / or control.

The above listed information is entered into the RBO filing for the relevant legal entity.

Practitioners are reminded that:

• it is the responsibility of the designated person to ascertain and verify the beneficial ownership information provided against the client's RBO filing;

• access to the RBO is restricted to designated persons, for the purpose of compliance with their own statutory obligations, and competent authorities only[3];

• public access is restricted to viewing a legal entity's profile which includes the entity's legal name, registered office address and the number of beneficial owners filed for that entity[4]; and

• a copy of the RBO filing should not be requested by or provided to a designated person by another designated person.

Next chapter: Capacity to Provide Certification

[1] Requests are typically received from designated bodies when complying with their own anti-money laundering duties. 

[2] Regulation 5(8)(a), SI 110 of 2019. 

[3] This restricted access is as a result of the CJEU judgment in WM and Sovim SA v Luxembourg Business Registers (joined Cases C‑37/20 and C‑601/20) (Decision)

[4]  See Paul Egan, "See Who Are You?" Law Society Gazette (July 2023).