Moneyval Report: companies reminded of obligation to declare their beneficial owners

The Principality has until March 2024 to satisfy Moneyval, by responding to a series of observations. One of these concerns is the declaration of "beneficial owners" of commercial companies. Therefore, the government is launching a "national action plan", which includes a general information campaign followed by "targeted reminders to the companies concerned".

In its evaluation report published on 23 January, MONEYVAL, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering committee, invited the Principality to complete its register of beneficial owners.

In order to meet this objective, the Prince’s Government has undertaken a national action plan. This includes a general information campaign and then follow-up directed at the companies concerned.

After this follow-up, cases of legal entities whose legal status is irregular will be referred to the Court of First Instance.

Consequently, if your company registered in the Trade & Industry Register is not up to date with its declarations of beneficial owners, please contact the Business Development Agency as soon as possible.

Who are beneficial owners?

We call beneficial owner(s) the natural person or persons who meet one of the following conditions:

• They are the ultimate owners, directly or indirectly, of at least 25% of the capital or voting rights of the company
• They exercise effective control of the company by any other means (for example: they can appoint or dismiss the majority of the members of the executive bodies)

If none of these criteria are met, they are the person(s) who legally represent the company (manager, managing director, etc.).

Please note

When the legal representative is a company, the beneficial owner(s) is (are) the natural person or persons who legally represent this company.

How do you declare the beneficial owners of the company?

The application to be included in the Register of Beneficial Owners must be made via the Business Development Agency.

Find all information relating to this procedure by following this link.