Singapore legislation
Regulation 7
Regulation 7
Identification and verification of identity of beneficial owners
Subregulation 1
For the purposes of rule 5(1)(a) but subject to paragraph (6) and rule 12, an accounting entity or individual practitioner of the accounting entity must inquire if there exists any beneficial owner in relation to a client.
Subregulation 2
Subject to rule 8, where the accounting entity or individual practitioner becomes aware pursuant to the inquiry or otherwise that there is one or more beneficial owners in relation to the client, the accounting entity or individual practitioner must, before the accounting entity establishes a business relationship with the client, take reasonable measures to obtain information sufficient to identify and verify the identity of every beneficial owner.
Subregulation 3
Where the client is a body corporate or unincorporate, or a legal arrangement, the accounting entity or individual practitioner must take reasonable measures to understand the ownership and control structure of the body corporate or unincorporate, or the legal arrangement, as the case may be.
Subregulation 4
Where the client is a body corporate, the accounting entity or individual practitioner must identify the beneficial owners by —
identifying the individuals (whether acting alone or together) who ultimately own all the assets or undertakings of the body corporate;
to the extent that there is doubt under sub‑paragraph (a) as to whether the individuals who ultimately own all the assets or undertakings of the body corporate are the beneficial owners or where no individuals ultimately own all the assets or undertakings of the body corporate, identifying the individuals (if any) who have ultimate control or ultimate effective control over the body corporate; and
where no individuals are identified under sub‑paragraph (a) or (b), identifying the individuals having executive authority in the body corporate, or in equivalent or similar positions.
Subregulation 5
Where the client is a legal arrangement, the accounting entity or individual practitioner must identify the following persons:
in the case of an express trust — the settlor, the trustees, the protector (if any), the beneficiaries or class of beneficiaries as well as any individual having ultimate ownership of the assets or undertakings of the trust, or exercising ultimate control or ultimate effective control over the trust (including through a chain of control or ownership or both);
in the case of any other type of legal arrangement — the persons in equivalent or similar positions as those described in sub‑paragraph (a).
Subregulation 6
An accounting entity or individual practitioner need not inquire if there exists any beneficial owner in relation to a client where the client is —
an entity listed on the Singapore Exchange;
an entity listed on a stock exchange outside Singapore which is regulated by an authority of a country or territory other than Singapore regulating the provision of financial services;
a Singapore financial institution;
a financial institution incorporated or established outside Singapore that is subject to and supervised for compliance with requirements for the prevention of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and proliferation financing consistent with the standards set by the FATF; or
an investment vehicle, the managers of which are —
Singapore financial institutions; or
financial institutions incorporated or established outside Singapore, and subject to and supervised for compliance with requirements for the prevention of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and proliferation financing consistent with the standards set by the FATF,unless the accounting entity or individual practitioner has doubts about the veracity of the information obtained by the accounting entity or individual practitioner in carrying out CDD measures under these Rules or suspects that the client is carrying out or facilitating money laundering, the financing of terrorism or proliferation financing.
Subregulation 7
For the purposes of paragraph (6), the accounting entity or individual practitioner must keep a written record of the basis for its determination that a client is a person or investment vehicle specified in that paragraph.
Subregulation 8
Subject to any rule of law relating to a trustee’s duty of confidentiality, an accounting entity must, when forming a business relationship in its capacity as a trustee with any specified person, disclose to the specified person the status of the accounting entity or individual practitioner as such trustee.
Subregulation 9
In this rule, “specified person” means a specified person as defined in regulation 8(5) of the Trustees (Transparency and Effective Control) Regulations 2017 (G.N. No. S 151/2017).