{"id":10761,"date":"2025-12-30T01:31:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T01:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amlcc.com\/?p=10761"},"modified":"2025-12-18T13:46:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:46:00","slug":"whats-a-beneficial-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amlcc.com\/aw\/whats-a-beneficial-owner\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s a beneficial owner?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What\u2019s a beneficial owner?<\/h1>\n\n\n
\"Richard<\/div>
Richard Simms<\/span>

Director and Founder of AMLCC and AMLCC Consult<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
\"What\u2019s<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A beneficial owner is the individual who ultimately owns or controls a client or the individual on whose behalf a transaction or activity is carried out. This concept sits at the heart of the UK Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (as amended)<\/a> (MLRs). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Regulations are clear that regulated businesses must look beyond the name on the paperwork and identify the real person who benefits from ownership or control. Criminals routinely use companies, trusts and nominee arrangements to distance themselves from assets, which is why beneficial ownership is treated as a core customer due diligence<\/a> (CDD) requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal definition appears in Regulation 5 of the MLRs<\/a> and applies differently depending on whether the client is a company, partnership, trust or another legal arrangement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beneficial owners of companies and other bodies corporate<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For a body corporate that is not listed on a regulated market, the MLRs define a beneficial owner as an individual who meets one or more of the following conditions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n