The European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Corporate Entities) Regulations, 2016 (“2016 Regulations”) have been published with a commencement date of 15th November, 2016 for Ireland.
The 2016 Regulations requires Irish Companies to maintain an internal register to hold adequate, accurate and current information on shareholdings and in particular, whom are the beneficial owners of such shareholdings.
An Irish Central Register is to come into effect on the 26th June 2017 where all such beneficial interests / ownership shall be maintained in Ireland.
Accordingly, Company Directors and Company Secretaries should act now, which in most scenarios will be a straight forward exercise to confirm the following for each beneficial shareholding owner:-
- a register of the shareholder name,
- date of birth,
- address and
- statement of interest held.
In other scenarios, beneficial ownership may be more difficult to determine particularly in complex corporate structures however, this task will have to be completed to be in compliance with the 2016 Regulations.
If any queries arise as to the above please email alanwallace@manganobeirne.ie