The Beneficial Ownership Act (hereinafter "BO Act") came into force in August 2020.
According to the provisions of the BO Act as well as the Beneficial Owners Regulations, every Seychelles' International Business Company ("IBC") should maintain adequate information on Registry of the Company's BO.
One important feature of the definition of the BO according to the new BO Act is the reduction in threshold for identification of beneficial owners for legal persons from 25% (the IBC Act) to 10% (under the BO Regulations).
The Register of the BO (hereinafter "RBO") should include the following information in respect of every BO:
- The name, residential address, service address, date of birth and nationality of beneficial owner;
- Details of each beneficial owner's beneficial interest, as may be prescribed by regulations;
- The date on which a person became a beneficial owner;
- The date on which a person ceased to be a beneficial owner;
- Where a nominee holds interest on behalf of the beneficial owner
A copy of the RBO should be submitted to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The information will be kept confidential and it will not be publicly accessible. The persons entitled to inspect the RBO are the company's director(s), member(s), or UBO(s).
A company who fails to maintain a Register of Beneficial Owners commits an offence and is liable to penalties.
Originally Published by A.G. Paphitis, December 2020
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