5AMLD UBO: Ultimate Beneficial Ownership

In 2017, 4AMLD introduced a focus on ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) for the purposes of risk mitigation and money laundering prevention. 5AMLD UBO builds on those steps, introducing the following measures:

• UBO lists (drawn up under 4MLD) are to be made publicly accessible.
• Trusts must observe beneficial ownership regulations and, like companies, will have that information made available to authorities or others demonstrating legitimate interest.
• UBO national registers must be inter-connected at an EU level in order to facilitate cooperation and the exchange of information between member-state authorities.
• Member-states are to strengthen their UBO verification mechanisms to ensure the information they carry is accurate and reliable.
• Members states must introduce separate 5AMLD UBO registers for bank accounts – unlike company UBO registers, these lists will not be publicly available and only accessible by authorities.

The requirement of 5AMLD UBO – to register beneficial ownership and have that information publicly available – is as Head of Financial Crime, at ComplyAdvantage, Livia Benisty said, “a vital first step in detecting some of the vast flows of illicit funds transmitted through the financial system, and places a handicap on the preferred instrument of money launderers globally.”

Originally published September 6, 2018, updated August 25, 2022