Article 54 Coexistence of ownership interest and control in the ownership structure

This article addresses a specific and complex scenario in beneficial ownership identification: what happens when a corporate entity is owned through a multi-layered structure where ownership interest and control coexist at different levels of the same chain.

It builds directly on the general beneficial ownership rules established in Articles 51 to 53, providing targeted guidance for these more intricate ownership arrangements.

The article essentially ensures that in such layered structures, no beneficial owner can be obscured by the complexity of the chain itself.

Important points:

• In multi-layered ownership structures where ownership and control coexist at different layers, identify beneficial owners at both levels of that chain.
• Beneficial owners include natural persons who control legal entities that have a direct ownership interest in the corporate entity.
• Beneficial owners also include natural persons who hold an ownership interest in a corporate entity that itself controls the target corporate entity.