Proposal to Strengthen the Registration of Ultimate Beneficial Owners

Published 13 March 2019

PrintCategory: Corporate Regulation

On 13 March 2019, the Danish Government presented a proposal for an amendment of various acts including the Danish Companies Act which implements part of the 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive concerning the registration of ultimate beneficial owners.

Amongst key changes, the proposal makes it mandatory for capital owners and others with direct or indirect control to provide the company with information necessary to identity their ultimate beneficial owners and further makes it mandatory for companies to supply this information to persons and companies which are required to carry out KYC procedures.

Insufficient registrations or lack of documentation for the registrations (or lack of registrations) may be grounds for compulsory dissolution of the company. Further it is proposed to obligate for companies to make a yearly assessment of whether there are any changes of the ultimate beneficial owners, the results of which are to be presented on the meeting where the central management approves of the annual report.

Next Steps: The proposal is expected to be adopted by the Danish Parliament on 2 May 2019 and, if enacted, the changes will enter into force from 10 January 2020.

The proposal is available here.

Tags:  Beneficial OwnershipComplianceDanish RegulationDisclosure RequirementsKYC / AML


Also tagged ‘Beneficial Ownership’

2 May 2019 Corporate RegulationFinancial Regulation

Danish Parliament Strengthens Registration Requirements of Ultimate Beneficial Owners

On 2 May 2019, the Danish Parliament adopted amendments to the Danish Companies Act, which implements part of the 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

Beneficial OwnershipComplianceDanish RegulationDisclosure RequirementsKYC / AML
26 Feb 2019 Taxation / VAT

EU Court of Justice Issues Ruling in Danish Beneficial Ownership Cases

The CJEU judgments will likely have a big impact on international group structures and will also contribute to the interpretation of the anti-abuse principles of EU law and the "beneficial owner" concept.

Beneficial OwnershipDanish Regulation

Other updates

14 Apr 2025 Taxation / VATUpdates

Amendment of Section 2C of the Danish Corporation Tax Act regarding reclassification of transparent entities

Section 2C of the Danish Corporation Tax Act regards the situation where a Danish corporate entity which is considered transparent for Danish tax purposes is treated as a tax opaque entity in the jurisdiction(s) of its owner(s).

Venture Capital
11 Apr 2025 Impact and ESGUpdates

Report on advancing sustainable finance

The EU Commission advisory body, Platform on Sustainable Finance, has published a report on advancing sustainable finance focusing on technical criteria for new economic activities and first review of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139.

Sustainability
28 Mar 2025 Financial RegulationImpact and ESGUpdates

The Danish FSA: Managers need to ensure truly sustainable investments

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (the “Danish FSA”) has initiated an inspection of three managers in September 2024.

SFDRSustainabilityThe Danish FSA
27 Feb 2025 Impact and ESGUpdates

The Omnibus package and its impact on EU’s ESG regulation

Yesterday, the European Commission revealed the proposal for the Omnibus Simplification Package.

CSDDDCSRDDisclosure RequirementsSustainability
20 Feb 2025 Financial RegulationUpdates

The Danish FSA has updated the report on fitness assessments

On 5 February 2025, the Danish FSA published a new and updated version of its report detailing its practice regarding the fitness assessment of board members, executive management members and key persons in financial businesses.

Danish RegulationGovernanceThe Danish FSA
11 Feb 2025 Corporate RegulationUpdates

EU Commission calls for review of certain outbound investments

On 15 January 2025, the European Commission issued a recommendation urging EU Member States to review investments out of EU for risks of enabling technology transfers/leakage into third countries (‘outbound investments’).

Cross-Border