Under the FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Rule, a bank must collect and verify identifying information for each beneficial owner of a legal entity customer. At a minimum, the bank must obtain the following identifying information for each beneficial owner of a legal entity customer:
Name
Date of birth
Address
Identification number (such as SSN)
Beneficial ownership is determined under both a control prong and an ownership prong. All legal entity customers will have a total of between one and five beneficial owner(s) – one individual under the control prong and zero to four individuals under the ownership prong.
Under the control prong, the beneficial owner is a single individual with significant responsibility to control, manage or direct a legal entity customer. This includes, an executive officer or senior manager (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, President), or any other individual who regularly performs similar functions. One beneficial owner must be identified under the control prong for each legal entity customer.
Under the ownership prong, a beneficial owner is each individual, if any, who, directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship or otherwise, owns 25 percent or more of the equity interests of a legal entity customer. Identification of a beneficial owner under the ownership prong is not required if no individual owns 25 percent or more of a legal entity customer.