UK Government Consults On Beneficial Ownership Register For Money Laundering Purposes

Contributor

A&O Shearman was formed in 2024 via the merger of two historic firms, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling. With nearly 4,000 lawyers globally, we are equally fluent in English law, U.S. law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets. This combination creates a new kind of law firm, one built to achieve unparalleled outcomes for our clients on their most complex, multijurisdictional matters – everywhere in the world. A firm that advises at the forefront of the forces changing the current of global business and that is unrivalled in its global strength. Our clients benefit from the collective experience of teams who work with many of the world’s most influential companies and institutions, and have a history of precedent-setting innovations. Together our lawyers advise more than a third of NYSE-listed businesses, a fifth of the NASDAQ and a notable proportion of the London Stock Exchange, the Euronext, Euronext Paris and the Tokyo and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.

Explore Firm Details

United Kingdom Government, Public Sector

On November 3, 2016, the UK Government Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy launched a consultation on the requirement to maintain a central register of beneficial ownership information of corporate and other legal entities under the Fourth Money Laundering Directive. The Fourth Money Laundering Directive requires member states to hold information on beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities incorporated in their territory in a central register and that the information should be available to specific EU authorities and organizations. Since April 6, 2016, the UK has required UK companies, limited liability partnerships and societates europaeae to establish and maintain a register of persons with significant control over them and since June 30, 2016, those entities have been required to file such information with Companies House where it is publicly available. The BEIS is consulting on amendments and additions to the UK's current PSC regime that are needed to properly implement the 4MLD requirements, including, requiring entities to update information in the PSC register every six months of a change (instead of every 12 months) and making the proportion of suppressed PSC information which is not publicly available through Companies House available to banks and investment firms. BEIS also proposes that the determination of whether an entity is in scope of the Directive is that it must be UK-incorporated and constitutionally capable of having a beneficial owner. The consultation closes on December 16, 2016. Member states are required to transpose 4MLD by June 26, 2017.

The Discussion Paper is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/565095/beis-16-38-4th-money-laundering-directive-transposition-discussion-paper.pdf .

You may like to view our client now on the current UK PSC Regime at: http://www.shearman.com/~/media/Files/NewsInsights/Publications/2016/03/The-New-PSC-Regime-MA-032316.pdf.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.