Legislative proposal regarding UBO-register submitted

On 4 April 2019 the Dutch Minister of Finance has submitted a legislative proposal (link, in Dutch) with regard to the UBO-register. The legislative proposal requires Dutch companies to keep records about who their ultimate beneficial owner (‘UBO’) is/are. The information will be registered in the Commercial Register of the Chamber of Commerce. The UBO-register will largely be open to the public. Any person, including entities required to perform customer due diligence, gains access to at least the following data: name, birth month and year, state of residence, nationality and the nature and size of the beneficial interest by the UBO. The beneficial interest will be shown as a percentage within a certain bandwidth (from 25% to 50%, from 50% to 75% and from 75% to 100%). Competent authorities (such as the AFM and DNB) and the Financial intelligence unit will have access to additional UBO-data.

The legislative proposal implements article 30 of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive (AMLD4) which has been amended at this point by the Fifth Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5). These directives aim to prevent the financial system from being used by legal entities to launder money and/or finance terrorism. The legislative proposal is one of the measures taken in order to enhance the transparency of companies and the integrity of the financial system.

The measures should be implemented by 10 January 2020 at the latest.