Accessing the Register of Beneficial Ownership

Accessing the Register of Beneficial Ownership

As many are already aware, access to the RBO Register has recently been shut down, following an EU Court of Justice ruling.

Access to the Register of Beneficial ownership registry is only now being reopened to registered designated persons, which includes accountants in practice.

In order to gain access to the Register from now on, Designated Persons will need to appoint an authorised administrator register themselves, using a Form BEN3A1 Designated Persons Administration Declaration form (fillable online).

We suggest readers monitor the home page of the RBO for more information which will appear there as soon as it becomes available.

Meanwhile, for those of you still in the process of ISQM 1 implementation, please see our new ISQM TOOLKIT or if you prefer to chat through the different audit risks and potential appropriate responses presented by this new standard, please call or e-mail John McCarthy FCA or e-mail him at john@jmcc.ie.

We typically tailor training and brainstorming sessions to suit your firm’s unique requirements.

Publications and AML webinar

To ensure your letters of engagement and similar templates are up to date visit our site here where immediate downloads are available in Word format. A bulk discount is available for orders of five or more items if bought together.

Repeating Money Laundering Checks

Repeating Money Laundering Checks

Question from a firm – When a client moves address, do you need to redo the Money Laundering (ML) verification checks?

Answer – You should obviously update your records and then consider, on a risk sensitive basis, what (if any) evidence you need to support the change (e.g. obtain copy of a utility bill for the new home address – preferably a physical utility like gas/electric/broadband, but not a mobile phone bill). For most clients I would have thought that routine correspondence and dealings with the client would provide sufficient evidence to corroborate the change.

Also bear in mind the need to verify that the related appropriate update has been made to the RBO register entries (which are actually the client’s responsibility). This applies where the client is a beneficial owner of either a limited company or an Industrial & Provident Society. Such updates must be made ‘in a timely manner’ according to SI 110/2019.

Are your AML Policies Controls & Procedures up to date?

We have just released our latest Anti-Money Laundering Policies Controls & Procedures Manual (March 2022) – View the Table of Contents click here.

We have also just released an updated AML webinar (March 2022) available here, which accompanies the AML Manual. It explains the current legal AML reporting position for accountancy firms.

To ensure your letters of engagement and similar templates are up to date visit our site here where immediate downloads are available in Word format. A bulk discount is available for orders of five or more items if bought together.

For our latest Audit Quality Control Manual (October 2021) (implementing the latest Irish Audit & Accounting Supervisory Authority standards including ISQC1 on audit quality control) click here. View the Table of Contents here.

30,000 Non-Compliant Companies at the RBO

30,000 Non-Compliant Companies at the RBO

At a recent meeting of the CRO Forum (an umbrella group for the accountancy, legal and company formation profession liaising with CRO officials) it was revealed that there are 30,000 companies out of a population of 250,000 companies that had not, as at February 2022, filed their beneficial owner details with the Register of Beneficial Owners.

Staff at the RBO are hoping that some of this shortfall can be accounted for by companies which will be struck off for not filing their annual returns on time.

The April 2021 Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Acts 2010 to 2021 made it a requirement for designated persons to report two types of offence to the RBO. These were originally covered in our blog in May 2021 here. These offences are:

  • ‘Discrepancy’ and
  • ‘Non-compliance’

Both offences are defined in the AML law.

According to the meeting minutes, in the month of January 2022, the RBO received over 1,000 ‘non-compliance’ and ‘discrepancy’ reports, which would suggest a full-year figure of over 12,000.

 

Are your AML Policies Controls & Procedures up to date?

We have just released our latest Anti-Money Laundering Policies Controls & Procedures Manual (March 2022) – View the Table of Contents click here.

We have also just released an updated AML webinar (March 2022) available here, which accompanies the AML Manual. It explains the current legal AML reporting position for accountancy firms.

To ensure your letters of engagement and similar templates are up to date visit our site here where immediate downloads are available in Word format. A bulk discount is available for orders of five or more items if bought together.

For our latest Audit Quality Control Manual (October 2021) (implementing the latest Irish Audit & Accounting Supervisory Authority standards including ISQC1 on audit quality control) click here. View the Table of Contents here.