Pursuant to Article 30(3) of 4AMLD (as amended by 5AMLD), which requires that the beneficial ownership of certain financial vehicles (CFV) are held on a central register in each Member State, the Central Bank processes personal data on any natural person(s) who are beneficial owners of Irish Collective Asset-Management Vehicles (ICAV), Unit Trusts, Credit Unions, Investment Limited Partnerships and Common Contractual Funds.
The purpose of the Beneficial Ownership Register is to deter Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and to identify those that seek to hide their ownership and control of corporate or legal entities by ensuring that the ultimate owners/controllers of CFV are identified and that this information is readily accessible to law enforcement, regulators and obliged entities.
CFV are obliged to submit personal information and information on the nature and extent of the beneficial interest held or control exercised by each beneficial owner. Personal information includes:
- Forename and surname
- Date of birth
- Current residential address including country of residence
- Nationality
This information is stored securely in the Beneficial Ownership Register and is released only when a request for beneficial ownership information is made to the Beneficial Ownership Register.
In addition, and solely for the purpose of verification of the above information, Regulation 21 of SI 110 of 2019 and Sections 52 and 63 of the Investment Limited Partnership (Amendment) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act) obliges CFV to provide a PPS number (or CBI Reference Number for non-PPS number holders) to facilitate the Central Bank verifying the Forename, Surname and Date of Birth of each beneficial owner.
The mechanism to verify this information is to check the PPS number, Forename, Surname and Date of Birth of the beneficial owner against the Department of Social Protection (DSP) database of PPS numbers. To do so the Central Bank shares the PPS number, the forename, surname and DOB of the beneficial owner to the DSP via electronic and secure means. The Central Bank has entered into a data sharing agreement with the DSP for the purposes of governing and monitoring this arrangement.
Where a beneficial owner(s) has/have not been assigned an Irish PPS number, but the individual(s) has/have been previously obtained a CBI reference number from the Central Bank, the corresponding CBI Reference Number obtained may be provided for this purpose.
In the case of beneficial owners who have not been assigned a PPS number, nor a CBI Reference Number, a Declaration as to Verification of Identity must be provided to the Central Bank in order for the Central Bank to provide the beneficial owner with a CBI Reference Number.
Personal information collected as part of this process includes:
- Forename and Surname
- Date of Birth
- Nationality
- Current Residential Address
- Email
The mechanism to verify this information is to check the CBI Reference number, Forename, Surname and Date of Birth of the beneficial owner against other personal data collected by the Central Bank of Ireland in the course of performing its statutory functions and described elsewhere in the Data Privacy Statement.
Regulations 24 and 25 of SI 110 of 2019 and Sections 55, 56 and 63 of the 2020 Act provide for two types of access to the beneficial ownership information in the Beneficial Ownership Register – “unrestricted” and “restricted” access.
Only certain information contained in the Beneficial Ownership Register is available to members of the public who can demonstrate a legitimate interest in requiring access to the information and designated persons in accordance with Regulation 25 of SI 110 of 2019 (as amended by S.I. 308 of 2023), and Sections 56 and 63 of the 2020 Act. The Central Bank will retain records in relation to each decision made by the Registrar in respect of permitting or refusing access to information held on the Central Register for a period of 5 years from the date of the record’s creation.
A designated person is defined in Section 25 of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing) Act 2010, as amended by the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2018. They include financial institutions, accountants, auditors, tax advisers, legal professionals, and dealers in expensive goods (such as houses, cars, jewellery, etc.). Designated persons are required to conduct background information checks on individuals or entities they enter into a financial transaction or a business relationship with under Anti-Money laundering legislation. S.I. 110 of 2019 and the 2020 Act requires, inter alia, that when a designated person enters into an occasional transaction with a CFV, the CFV shall provide certain beneficial ownership information to the designated person and the designated person may access beneficial ownership information in the Beneficial Ownership Register.
This information is ‘restricted’ or limited to:
- The name of the CFV
- Beneficial Owner(s) - Name; Nationality; Country of Residence; Month and Year of Birth; Nature of Beneficial Ownership held
Where the beneficial owner is a minor (i.e. under 18 years of age) their details are exempt in normal course from access by designated persons and individuals who can demonstrate a legitimate interest. In accordance with Regulation 25(5) of SI 110 of 2019 (as amended by S.I. 308 of 2023), access may be provided where a summary of the grounds on which the requestor believes that the information be disclosed to him or her, is provided to the Registrar. The Registrar in their role can decide to disclose the information or not based on these grounds.
All information (‘unrestricted’ information) in the Beneficial Ownership Register is available to certain competent authorities, including information in respect of minors. The competent authorities include:
Competent authorities may disclose the information in the Beneficial Ownership Register to any corresponding competent authority of another Member State when requested by the corresponding competent authority.
PPS numbers or CBI Reference numbers are not provided to the individuals who can demonstrate a legitimate interest, designated persons or competent authorities. The purpose of their collection is solely as an information verification mechanism. Once the identity of the beneficial owner has been verified, the PPSN will be retained securely in an irreversible hashed format and the original submitted PPSN will be deleted within 24 hours of being received.
CFV also provide limited personal data to the Beneficial Ownership Register in connection with the person submitting information to the Beneficial Ownership Register on behalf of the CFV.
The Central Bank is obliged by Article 30(4) 4AMLD (as amended by 5AMLD), to “ensure that the information held in the central register is adequate, accurate and current”. The Central Bank will delete from the Beneficial Ownership Register information held in relation to a CFV when ten years elapse from the date of dissolution of that CFV, should such dissolution occur.
The Central Bank will retain all records in relation to information obtained through the declaration of verification of identity process for a period of 15 years from when the individual has ceased being a beneficial owner of a CFV(s).
Please continue to read below for information regarding your personal data rights.