Belgian Entities Required to Disclose their UBOs before 30 November 2018
This newsletter gives a brief overview of the practical aspects of a new obligation for Belgian entities to gather information about their ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) and enter it in a central UBO register.
In its fight against the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, the European Union has imposed far-reaching measures – including the requirement for EU member states to each establish a central UBO register – by means of the Fourth and Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directives (Directives 2015/849 and 2018/843). In Belgium, most of the Directive's provisions have been implemented in national law through the Act of 18 September 2017 for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and for the restriction of the use of cash. The Act provides for the establishment of a Belgian UBO register, but does not elaborate on the modalities in this regard.
