Collecting Beneficial Ownership Info for Trustees

Based on the following, it sounds as though we only have to worry about collecting beneficial ownership information for trustees of statutory trusts created by a filing with a Secretary of State or similar office. Does that sound accurate to you? Here is the specific language I found regarding Trusts. Beneficial Owner If a trust owns directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship or otherwise, 25 percent or more of the equity interests of a legal entity customer, the beneficial owner shall mean the trustee. Trusts The definition of a “legal entity customer” would also not include trusts (other than statutory trusts created by a filing with a Secretary of State or similar office). This is because, unlike the legal entities that are subject to the final rule, a trust is a contractual arrangement between the person who provides the funds or other assets and specifies the terms (i.e., the grantor or settlor) and the person with control over the assets (i.e., the trustee), for the benefit of those named in the trust deed (i.e., the beneficiaries). Formation of a trust does not generally require any action by the state. As FinCEN noted in the NPRM, identifying a “beneficial owner” from among these parties, based on the definition in the proposed or final rule, would not be possible. FinCEN emphasizes that this does not and should not supersede existing obligations and practices regarding trusts generally. The preamble to each of the CIP rules notes that, while financial institutions are not required to look through a trust to its beneficiaries, they “may need to take additional steps to verify the identity of a customer that is not an individual, such as obtaining information about persons with control over the account.” Moreover, as FinCEN noted in the proposal, it is our understanding that where trusts are direct customers of financial institutions, financial institutions generally also identify and verify the identity of trustees, because trustees will necessarily be signatories on trust accounts (which in turn provides a ready source of information for law enforcement in the event of an investigation). Furthermore, under supervisory guidance for banks, “in certain circumstances involving revocable trusts, the bank may need to gather information about the settlor, grantor, trustee, or other persons with the authority to direct the trustee, and who thus have authority or control over the account, in order to establish the true identity of the customer.” We reiterate our understanding that, consistent with existing obligations, financial institutions are already taking a risk based approach to collecting information with respect to various persons associated with trusts in order to know their customer, and that we expect financial institutions continue these practices as part of their overall efforts to safeguard against money laundering and terrorist financing.