Article 22 AMLR – Identification and verification of the identity of customers and beneficial owners

1.   With the exception of cases of lower risk to which measures under Section 3 apply and irrespective of the application of additional measures in cases of higher risk under Section 4 obliged entities shall obtain at least the following information in order to identify the customer, any person purporting to act on behalf of the customer, and the natural persons on whose behalf or for the benefit of whom a transaction or activity is being conducted:

(a)

for a natural person:(i)all names and surnames;(ii)place and full date of birth;(iii)nationalities, or statelessness and refugee or subsidiary protection status where applicable, and the national identification number, where applicable;(iv)the usual place of residence or, if there is no fixed residential address with legitimate residence in the Union, the postal address at which the natural person can be reached and, where available the tax identification number;

(b)

for a legal entity:(i)legal form and name of the legal entity;(ii)address of the registered or official office and, if different, the principal place of business, and the country of creation;(iii)the names of the legal representatives of the legal entity as well as, where available, the registration number, the tax identification number and the Legal Entity Identifier;(iv)the names of persons holding shares or a directorship position in nominee form, including reference to their status as nominee shareholders or directors.

(c)

for a trustee of an express trust or a person holding an equivalent position in a similar legal arrangement:(i)basic information on the legal arrangement; however, with regard to the assets held in the legal arrangement or managed through it, only the assets that are to be managed in the context of the business relationship or occasional transaction shall be identified;(ii)the address of residence of the trustees or persons holding an equivalent position in a similar legal arrangement and, if different, the place from where the express trust or similar legal arrangement is administered, the powers that regulate and bind the legal arrangement, as well as, where available, the tax identification number and the Legal Entity Identifier;

(d)

for other organisations that have legal capacity under national law:(i)name, address of the registered office or equivalent;(ii)names of the persons empowered to represent the organisation as well as, where applicable, legal form, tax identification number, registration number, Legal Entity Identifier and deeds of association or equivalent.

2.   For the purposes of identifying the beneficial owner of a legal entity or of a legal arrangement, obliged entities shall collect the information referred to in Article 62(1), second subparagraph, point (a).

Where, after having exhausted all possible means of identification, no natural persons are identified as beneficial owners, or where there are doubts that the persons identified are the beneficial owners, obliged entities shall record that no beneficial owner was identified and identify all the natural persons holding the positions of senior managing officials in the legal entity and shall verify their identity.

Where the performance of identity verification referred to in the second subparagraph may tip off the customer that the obliged entity has doubts regarding the beneficial ownership of the legal entity, the obliged entity shall abstain from verifying the senior managing officials’ identity, and shall instead record the steps taken to ascertain the identity of the beneficial owners and senior managing officials. Obliged entities shall keep records of the actions taken as well as of the difficulties encountered during the identification process, which led to resorting to the identification of a senior managing official.

3.   Credit institutions and financial institutions shall obtain information to identify and verify the identity of the natural or legal persons using any virtual IBAN they issue, and the associated bank or payment account.

The credit institution or financial institution servicing the bank or payment account to which a virtual IBAN issued by another credit institution or financial institution redirects payments, shall ensure that it can obtain from the institution issuing the virtual IBAN the information identifying and verifying the identity of the natural person using that virtual IBAN without delay and in any case within 5 working days of it requesting that information.

4.   In the case of beneficiaries of trusts or similar legal entities or arrangements that are designated by particular characteristics or class, an obliged entity shall obtain sufficient information concerning the beneficiary so that it will be able to establish the identity of the beneficiary at the time of the payout or at the time of the exercise by the beneficiary of its vested rights.

5.   In the case of discretionary trusts, an obliged entity shall obtain sufficient information concerning the objects of a power and default takers to enable it to establish the identity of the beneficiary at the time of the exercise by the trustees of their power of discretion, or at the time that the default takers become the beneficiaries due to the trustees’ failure to exercise their power of discretion.

6.   Obliged entities shall obtain the information, documents and data necessary for the verification of the identity of the customer and of any person purporting to act on their behalf through either of the following means:

(a)	the submission of an identity document, passport or equivalent and, where relevant, the acquisition of information from reliable and independent sources, whether accessed directly or provided by the customer;

(b)	the use of electronic identification means which meet the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 with regard to the assurance levels ‘substantial’ or ‘high’ and relevant qualified trust services as set out in that Regulation.

7.   Obliged entities shall verify the identity of the beneficial owner and, where relevant, the persons on whose behalf or for the benefit of whom a transaction or activity is being carried out in either of the following ways:

(a)	in accordance with paragraph 6;

(b)	by taking reasonable measures to obtain the necessary information, documents and data from the customer or other reliable sources, including public registers other than the central registers.

Obliged entities shall determine the extent of the information to be consulted, having regard to the risks posed by the occasional transaction or the business relationship and the beneficial owner, including risks relating to the ownership structure.

In addition to the means of verification set out in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, obliged entities shall verify the information on the beneficial owners by consulting the central registers.