Our valued sponsor

EU: Any way to have no UBO or avoid its publication?

If you appoint the nominees from a trusted law firm or accounting firm you may be 90% safe, if you don't share any access to bank accounts etc. you may be 100% safe.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mraleph
Nominees may indeed work well, make sure you have control of everything if you give any nominee the key to your business!
Sorry to burst your bubble...

The nominee ultimately has control. Say you having viewing rights.. the nominee director can cancel those at any point in time for you.
Say you have a nominee shareholder with a bare trust deed. What are you going to do when they dont keep their word?

In both cases all you have is going legal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jafo
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Bulgaria doesn't have an online registry that lists the UBO?
So US corp > owns BG company you declare yourself as UBO in Bulgaria, but shouldn't be listed anywhere. Government will know though.
I think there is criminal penalty if you fail to register UBO in BG.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sebastian
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Bulgaria doesn't have an online registry that lists the UBO?
So US corp > owns BG company you declare yourself as UBO in Bulgaria, but shouldn't be listed anywhere. Government will know though.
I think there is criminal penalty if you fail to register UBO in BG.
Bulgaria does not maintain a separate UBO register, however has it integrated the UBO data in its trade register. When searching the register, which is free, can be done without account but is in Bulgarian only, an extra menu option shows the ‘Действителни собственици’ or ‘Actual owner’.

Whats often overlooked is opportunity to operate as a branch office of a foreign company.
Branches normally do not disclose UBO-s.

Funnily enough some jurisdictions allow operating as a branch office even when the parent entity is liquidated.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sebastian and GPT
It was a typo regarding the year - 2026 is now discussed - but wouldn't be suprised to be enacted anyway in 2025 due to close timeframe for 2027 FATF evaluation

https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-101100.html
https://www.lenzstaehelin.com/news-...of-a-federal-register-of-beneficial-owners-1/
Initially I remember they planned on implementing in 2023. In sofar I am aware 2025 is on the table. At the same time, I wouldnt be surprised if they postpone until 2026. In the end they will implement as its part of the 5th AML directive.

https://kpmg.com/ch/en/insights/law/ubo-beneficial-owner-registers.html