The 4th and 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directives require each EU Member State to establish a Central Register of Beneficial Owners of Trusts. It requires the trustees of trusts to identify, register and file beneficial ownership information with the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts (CRBOT).
A beneficial owner of a relevant trust includes any individual who is entitled to a present or future vested interest in the trust or any other class of individuals in whose interest the trust is setup or operates, any individual who has control over the relevant trust, the settlor, the trustee and the protector.
Their obligations include:
• ensure they obtain and hold adequate, accurate and current information in respect of the beneficial owners of the relevant trust;
• establish and maintain an Internal Register for the relevant trust;
• file beneficial ownership information in the CRBOT; and
• ensure that the information in the Internal Register and in the CRBOT is kept up-to-date and aligned.
The CRBOT must be updated within 14 days of the date on which the obligation to update the Internal Register falls to be discharged by the trustee. Trustees of relevant trusts created after 23rd April 2021 must file within six month of establishment. Failure to comply with the Regulations is an offence liable on summary conviction to a fine up to €5,000.
The public and designated persons shall have a right of access to certain information contained in the Register. Access requests must be made to the Central Bank.
Trustees of all express trusts must take steps to assess whether their trust is in-scope, identify the beneficial owners of the trust, maintain up-to-date internal registers for each trust and submit the required beneficial ownership information to CRBOT as soon as possible.