Following the announcement by the Registrar of Companies (the “Registrar”), 15.01.2021, in relation to the Register of Beneficial Owners of Companies (the “Register”), data collection on beneficial owners of companies and other legal entities is postponed until 22.02.2021.
Companies will be granted a period of six (6) months to register the information concerning the real beneficiaries of legal entities in the system. The system that has been developed is an interim solution and access to it is only granted to competent authorities, upon formal request to the Registrar.
Any registration in this system is not mandatory until the relevant regulations have been adopted, it is expected that such shall be adopted in approximately two (2) months. The draft of these regulations will be sent to the Cyprus Bar Association for feedback before they are enacted.
Reminder to our Clients
Each EU Member State should have transposed the AMLD 5 into national legislation by 10 January 2020.
Cyprus introduced AMLD 5 into national legislation through amendments to the Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law (188 (I)/2007).
The main areas affected by AMLD 5 are Beneficial Ownership, Politically Exposed Persons, High-Value Goods, High-Risk Third Countries as well as Cryptocurrencies and Prepaid Cards. Our Note focuses exclusively on the creation of a Register of Beneficiaries.
AMLD 5: Central Registers
Beneficial owners, through shares, voting rights, ownership interests, or control via other means, will be required to provide all necessary information envisaged by AMLD 5.
Beneficial Owner / Ultimate Beneficial Owner (“UBO”), means any natural person/s who ultimately owns or controls an entity and/or the natural person/s on whose behalf a transaction or activity is being conducted;
A significant provision under AMLD 5 is the requirement to register UBOs and make this information publicly available.
In line with the new Directive, Cyprus will be required to establish Central Registers as follows:
1. The first register is to be maintained by the Registrar of Companies, this register will archive UBOs of corporate and other legal entities;
2. The second register shall be set up by the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission to hold UBO information on Trusts, Express and Constructive, and other legal arrangements;
3. The third register shall be maintained by banks who are required to maintain their own registers to include the bank or payment accounts as well as safe-deposit boxes of UBOs. A new requirement from “Obliged Entities” is to establish and verify the identity of the customers and UBOs before any transaction or business relationship.
Updates will follow as soon as our firm reviews them. Contact us for more information.
