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Seychelles: Beneficial Ownership Act, 2020
09/10/2020New requirements for Seychelles IBCs
The Beneficial Ownership Act 2020 is a new legislation that came into effect on 28 August 2020 together with the Beneficial Ownership Regulations. The Act and Regulations impose new requirements on Seychelles IBCs, which must be met by 31 January 2021 :
A. A new format for the Final Beneficiary Registry (RBF)
Seychelles IBCs are required to maintain a RBF at the office of their Registered Agent in Seychelles. The Beneficial Ownership Regulations include a new RBF format which replaces the previous format required under the IBCs Act.
The RBF must contain the following information regarding each beneficial owner of such legal entity:
- The name, residential address, service address, date of birth and nationality of the beneficial owner;
- Details of the beneficial interest of each beneficial owner, as prescribed by the regulations;
- The date on which the person became the beneficial owner;
- The date on which the person ceased to be the beneficial owner;
- Where a nominal owner holds interests on behalf of the beneficial owner:
- The name, residential address, service address, date of birth and nationality of each nominee owner holding interests on behalf of the beneficial owner and the particulars and details of the interests held by the nominee owner; and
- The identity of the nominator, and where the nominator is a legal entity, the identity of the natural person who ultimately owns or controls the nominator.
B. The Registry of the Final Beneficiary will be registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF)
A copy of the Beneficial Ownership Register must be sent to the FIU. The information provided will be kept strictly confidential and will not be publicly accessible . Persons authorized to inspect the RBF are the company’s directors, members or persons whose names appear on the RBF (limited to the inspection of the person’s name on the RBF).
A company which fails to maintain a Register of Beneficial Ownership in accordance with section 5(1) of the Beneficial Ownership (BO) Act or fails to maintain accurate and up-to-date information in accordance with section 5(2) of the Act commits an offence and is liable to a penalty not exceeding SCR 50,000 (approx. US$2,500) for each such breach (section 5(3)). In the event of a contravention of section 5(1) or 5(2) of the Act, in addition to the penalty imposed on the company, any director commits an offence and is also liable to a penalty not exceeding SCR 50,000 (approx. US$2,500) for each such breach (section 5(4)).
If you have any questions regarding this topic, please contact us at seychelles@stagingcd.com.
