After the latest stakeholders meeting convened by the CRO, it was highlighted that numerous new accounts for Designated Persons have been established with the Register of Beneficial Ownership(RBO). As accountants, it is imperative that we grasp our legal obligations, particularly as designated persons, defined in Section 25 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010, as amended.
Beginning in April 2021, Designated Persons, as stipulated in the aforementioned Act, are mandated to conduct a thorough examination of the RBO by obtaining the prescribed RBO report for all new clients before initiating any business relationship. This check aims to ascertain whom the entity has listed as its beneficial owners and for the designated person to confirm they are happy with those defined.
Whilst performing this check, a designated person cannot solely rely on the RBO report for the purposes of ascertaining the beneficial ownership in an entity. If, following a review of the RBO and the information the entity must hold in its internal register of beneficial ownership, the designated person identifies a discrepancy in beneficial ownership, they shall notify the Registrar in a timely manner of the nature of this discrepancy in accordance with Regulation 20(3)(b) of SI 110/2019. Please see the following blog for such details.
How to get access to the RBO to pull the Report
Designated Persons may submit the Form BEN3A1 - Designated Persons Administration Declaration to the RBO in order to gain access to pulling the RBO reports. The BEN3A1 can be found on the RBO website. This will allow you to create the new Admin-DP account, often referred to as such or the Master account.
Information required on the form includes;
- Name of the Organisation
- Type of Designated Person
- Declaration that the designated person in question has responsibilities in the following areas:
- (1) take customer due diligence measures
- (2) a legitimate interest with respect to; money laundering, terrorist financing, and the associated predicate offences, such as corruption, tax crimes and fraud.
- Declaration of Undertaking
This is signed off by an Authoring person and sent to a dedicated RBO email.
Once completed by the RBO you will be granted access to a new Master Account. This Master account is separate from the initial account set up to file on.
Following set-up of the Master Account, sub-accounts will need to be created to provide access to your team. This is completed through an authorised user table which can be found on the RBO website and submitted to the RBO.
Information required on the form includes;
- Person authorising the officers for access to the RBO register
- Name of the Organisation
- Name of the authorised person on your team
- Their RBO Login Name
- Position
- E-mail address (used to create their RBO User Account)
Once this is registered with the RBO, your team will be sent logins and will gain access back to pull RBO as required for AML.
My Credit account has not been pulled over, what do I do?
It is likely that if you previously created a credit account with RBO prior to setting up the Master account it has not been transferred over. In these cases, email both your old and new AC account numbers to [email protected] and put “Account Transfer Request” into the subject line. Once transferred to the Master account those funds can be used to pull the €2.50 report.
How can I now search on RBO for a report?
Once logged in to your Master account you can search for the relevant entity using the search facility available on the homepage. From here you will be given the option to purchase the report and add to the cart. From the cart section, you will be able to purchase the reports with your credit account or a credit card. Once completed the report will be available in the Orders section and can appended to your Customer Due Diligence forms.
If you have any questions, or if you require any assistance, please get in touch with the OmniPro Corporate Consultants Team on 053 910 0000.
The contents of this article are meant as a guide only and are not a substitute for professional advice. The author/s accept no responsibility for any action taken, or refrained from, as a result of the material contained in this document. Specific advice should be obtained before acting or refraining from acting, in connection with the matters dealt with in this article.
