Beneficial Ownership Register of CFV FAQ

Legislation and Anti-Money Laundering

The European Union (EU) has legislated for a number of Anti-Money Laundering Directives ("AML Directives"), also known as the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Directives. The more recent Directives which are relevant to this Register are:

* Certain provisions of EU Directive 2024/1640 (6AMLD), i.e. Articles 11-15, have been transposed in Ireland via Statutory Instrument 406 of 2026, pertaining to Legitimate Interest access. All other provisions of 6AMLD will take effect as prescribed in that Directive (i.e. from July 2027).

The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Act 2018 transposes the majority of 4AMLD into National Law.

The Statutory Instruments relevant to this Register are:

This information and links to the relevant websites above are provided by the Central Bank of Ireland for guidance only, and are not a legal interpretation of the SI or the EU Directives. If in doubt in respect of your legal obligations you should seek your own legal advice.

The purpose of the Central Beneficial Ownership Register for Certain Financial Vehicles (CFV)

The purpose of the Register is to deter Money Laundering (ML) and Terrorist Financing (TF) 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 ICAVs, Credit Unions, Unit Trusts, Investment Limited Partnerships and Common Contractual Funds are identified and that this information is readily accessible to law enforcement, regulators and obliged entities.

The Minister for Finance has tasked the Central Bank of Ireland with responsibility for establishing a Central Beneficial Ownership Register in respect of CFV.

Yes. The Register has been established under anti-money laundering legislation and specifically relates to CFV only.

No. CFV are required to maintain their own internal register of Beneficial Ownership as required by Regulation 15 in S.I. 110 of 2019. This is separate from the requirement that they must also file the same Beneficial Ownership information on the Central Beneficial Ownership Register for CFV.

CFV must keep details of their Beneficial Ownership up to date at all times. Any changes to Beneficial Ownership details must be updated to this Register within 14 days of the change occurring, per Regulation 10 (S.I. 110 of 2019).

It is the responsibility of CFV and those that manage them to ensure that the beneficial ownership information is filed on the CFV Register.

Failure to comply with these requirements is a breach of statutory obligation and a criminal offence which is subject to sanctions.

CFV are legally obliged under S.I. No. 233 of 2020 and S.I. 110 of 2019 to maintain "adequate, accurate and current information in respect of its beneficial owners".

Regulation 24(9) of S.I. No 110 of 2019 states that the CFV’s internal register of beneficial owners must be available for inspection by any member of the Garda Síochána, the Revenue Commissioners, a competent authority, or the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Access to the Register

The following may request access to the Beneficial Ownership Register;

  • Competent Authorities- as prescribed by Regulation 24 S.I. 110 of 2019.
  • Designated Persons- as defined by Section (25)(1)(a-j) of the Criminal Justice Act 2010.
  • Persons with a Legitimate Interest in accessing the register- as defined by Regulation 25(3A)(b) of S.I. 110 of 2019.

Competent Authorities, as prescribed by Regulation 24 of S.I. 110 of 2019 , can request access to information contained on the BOR by sending an email to BOR@centralbank.ie and providing the following details:

  • Name of the requestor
  • Name of the relevant CFV and associated Institution Code

(Note: Find CFV name and Institution Code in the Certain Financial Vehicles listed on the Beneficial Ownership Register)

Regulation 25 of SI 110 of 2019 and Sections 56 and 63 of the 2020 Act provide that designated persons shall have a right of access to certain information contained in the Register.

  • Access requests can be made by designated persons by completing a BOR 4 Form and submitting to BOR@centralbank.ie. Independent evidence of active designated person status must also be provided with the completed form, following which the request will be processed.  
  • Access requests are made in respect of a CFV and beneficial ownership information held on the Register in relation to that CFV will be provided. A separate request must be made in respect of each CFV (i.e. multiple CFV cannot be included in a single access request). Access requests are only facilitated by CFV, not by beneficial owner.

Regulation 25 (3A)(b) of S.I. 110 of 2019 provides that a natural person or legal entity with a legitimate interest in the prevention and combating of money laundering, its predicate offences and terrorist financing shall have a right to access certain information contained in the register*.

  • To access information contained on the Register, the natural person or legal entity must be in possession of a Certificate of Legitimate Interest, issued by the Central Bank of Ireland, other Irish Registrar or other Registrar in a Member State.
  • Where a Certificate of Legitimate Interest has been granted, a natural person or legal entity with a Legitimate Interest can seek access to certain BOR information by completing the BOR Legitimate Interest Access Request Form.

* Legitimate Interest Certification and BOR Legitimate Interest Access Requests pertaining to Investment Limited Partnerships (ILP) and Common Contractual Funds (CCF) will not be processed due to the absence of a legal basis to do so.

A natural person or legal entity that falls in scope of one of the following categories.

Category 1 - Access based on your role or occupation only.

You may qualify if your profession or public role itself justifies access.

Examples of professions/public role include journalists, civil society organisations and NGOs.

 

Category 2 - Access based on your role and a link to a company

You may qualify if your role is legally recognised, and you have a clear connection to a specific CFV. Examples include acting in a professional or oversight capacity, or supervisory, legal, or investigative work.

 

Category 3 - Access based only on a link to a CFV

You may qualify if you are directly involved with a specific CFV, or you are likely to enter into a future transaction with a CFV.

To apply for a Certificate of Legitimate Interest you must complete a  Legitimate Interest Certification Application, provide all relevant information and supporting documentary evidence as required, and return to the BOR@centralbank.ie mailbox.

No, please only submit one Legitimate Interest Certification Application per email. Submitting multiple applications may delay processing.

Once you have received a Certificate of Legitimate Interest, to submit a request to access BOR information you must complete the BOR Legitimate Interest Access Request Form, provide all relevant information and supporting documentary evidence as required, and return to the BOR@centralbank.ie mailbox.

The relevant documentary evidence required is outlined in the  BOR Legitimate Interest Access Request Form.

Yes, Certificates of Legitimate Interest issued  for Categories 1 and 2 are designed to be mutually recognised across EU Member States. Where a Certificate of Legitimate Interest has been issued by the Central Bank in respect of a Category 3 application, such certification cannot be used in another EU country.

Yes, a Certificate of Legitimate Interest may be revoked where any of the grounds as prescribed in Regulation 25(3D) S.I. 110 of 2019 arise or become known to the Registrar after the certificate is issued.

Yes, the Central Bank of Ireland may refuse to issue a certificate where any of the grounds as prescribed in Regulation 25(3D) S.I. 110 of 2019 arise.

The following information is available in respect of beneficial owners of a CFV:

  • Forename and Surname
  • Month and Year of birth
  • Country of residence
  • Nationality
  • A statement of the nature and extent of the beneficial interest held or control exercised.

Regulations 24 and 25 of SI 110 of 2019 provides for two types of access to the beneficial ownership information contained in the Register – "unrestricted" and "restricted" access.

Unrestricted Access

All details contained on the Register are available to certain competent authorities. Regulation 24 in SI No 110 of 2019 provides full details on this. The competent authorities include:

An Garda Síochána, Revenue Commissioners, competent authorities and CAB may disclose the information in the central register to any corresponding competent authority of another Member State (Regulation 24(9) SI 110/2019).

Restricted access

Only certain information contained in the Register is available to designated persons and persons with a legitimate interest in accordance with Regulation No 25 of SI No 110 of 2019. This information is:

  • Name of the CFV
  • Beneficial Owner(s) - Name; Nationality; Country of Residence; Month and Year of Birth; Nature of Beneficial Ownership held

Designated persons are defined in the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (No 6 of 2010). 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 general AML legislation. SI No. 110 of 2019 requires, inter alia, that when a designated person enters into an occasional transaction with a relevant entity (i.e. a Certain Financial Vehicle), the CFV shall provide certain beneficial ownership to the Designated Person (Regulation 5(8)) and the Designated Person is also granted restricted access to the Register (Regulation 25). 

Persons with a legitimate interest can request access to BOR information in relation to Unit Trusts, Credit Unions and Irish Collective Asset-Management Vehicles. In order to successfully establish a legitimate interest to access certain information held in the BOR a person who wishes to inspect the register must demonstrate that they have a legitimate interest in the prevention, and combating of money laundering or terrorist financing offences. A natural person or legal entity can seek to obtain access if they are deemed to have a legitimate interest as outlined in Regulation 25(3A)(b) of S.I. 110 of 2019. Certain persons can request access to multiple CFV depending on their Legitimate Interest Certification. Additionally, certain persons are eligible to obtain historic beneficial ownership information.

Yes. Where the beneficial owner is a MINOR (i.e. under 18 years of age), or the beneficial owner is identified to the Registrar as a person who lacks capacity within the meaning of the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Act 2025 (No.64 of 2015) or is otherwise legally incapable, Regulation 25(5) of S.I. 110/2019 requires that their beneficial ownership details be exempt from direct access by designated persons and persons with Legitimate Interest. If a designated person or person with legitimate interest wishes to access beneficial ownership information relating to a minor or legally incapable person, they may submit a request in writing, to the Registrar (i.e. Central Bank of Ireland) including a summary of the grounds on which he/she considers it is in the public interest that that information be disclosed to him or her.

 

Definition of a Beneficial Owner

A Beneficial Owner is defined in Article 3(6) of 4AMLD, as any natural person(s) who ultimately owns or controls a legal entity, either through direct or indirect ownership of a sufficient percentage of the shares or voting rights or ownership interest in the entity, including through bearer shareholdings, or through control via other means.

These include:

  • ownership (directly or indirectly) of more than 25% of the company/society's shares
  • controlling (directly or indirectly) more than 25% of the company/society's voting rights
  • control via other means which is explained in Recital 13 of 4AMLD as follows:

“Control through other means" may, inter alia, include the criteria of control used for the purpose of preparing consolidated financial statements, such as

  • through a shareholders' agreement,
  • the exercise of dominant influence or
  • the power to appoint senior management

If an entity falling within the meaning of CFV is a subsidiary owned by another corporate or other legal entity, any natural person(s) who holds or controls a shareholding of 25% plus one share, or an ownership interest of more than 25% in the parent entity, is a beneficial owner(s) of the subsidiary.

If an entity falling within the meaning of Certain Financial Vehicle is a subsidiary owned by multiple corporate or other legal entities, Article 3(6) of 4AMLD, states that a shareholding of 25% plus one share or an ownership interest of more than 25% in a subsidiary held by multiple corporate or other legal entities which are under the control of the same natural person(s), shall be an indication of indirect beneficial ownership.

Ultimately, it is a natural person(s) who must be identified and entered on the Register as the beneficial owner(s) of the entity, irrespective of how many layers of ownership exist.

If, after having exhausted all possible means and provided there are no grounds for suspicion, no natural person is identified as a beneficial owner, or if there is any doubt that the person(s) identified are the beneficial owner(s), the natural person(s) who hold the position of Senior Managing Official(s) shall be recorded on the Register as the beneficial owner.

Senior Managing Official is defined in S.I. 110 of 2019 which states that it "includes a director and a chief executive officer". Accordingly, the Central Bank expects that when recording Senior Managing Official, it includes at a minimum a Director and Manager/CEO and would expect that the Chairperson is included among Directors recorded. It is ultimately a matter for a CFV to interpret this requirement and record additional senior management or directors as Senior Managing Officials as they see fit.

Further details on how to include senior managing official information is set out at the end of this FAQ.

Unit Trusts

In respect of Unit Trusts, the definition of beneficial owner is set out in Regulation 4 of S.I. 233 of 2020. By virtue of the definition, the following applies:

  1. A natural person must be identified in accordance with limbs (a) or (b) of the definition.
  2. The trustee/settlor whether they are a natural person or a corporate entity must also be identified.

In respect of limb (b) of the definition, a natural person must be registered who exercises "ultimate control over the entity by means of direct or indirect ownership or by other means". Ultimately, it is a matter for each party to determine who this is but may be a person in the trustee or management company who, in respect of the unit trust, exercises such a role. For example, the most senior PCF in the trustee firm or management company.

Therefore, details of:

  • the natural person(s) in 1 above; and/or
  • the trustee/settlor (as applicable) in 2 above;

should be included in the information provided to this register. Further details on how to include these details is set out at the end of this FAQ.

*A legislative change is pending in respect of Regulation 4(1) S.I. 233 of 2020 to legally prescribe the reporting of SMO where no natural person can be identified as a beneficial owner, as applicable for Unit Trusts.

Note:

  • As set out above it is a matter for CFV to identify their beneficial owners. CFV are required to maintain their own internal register of beneficial ownership, and the details submitted to the Central Beneficial Ownership Register should be consistent with what is recorded on the CFV's internal register.
  • Regulation 5(5) of S.I. 110 of 2019 – requires that CFV shall keep records of the actions taken to identify their beneficial owners.

  • If in doubt, CFV should seek legal advice to assist it in establishing who its beneficial owners are.

Guidance for providing Senior Managing Official details:

When submitting beneficial ownership information to the central register via the Portal, the following guidance should be followed when entering information in respect of Senior Managing Officials:

  • Nature of interest - Select 'Senior Managing Official' from the drop down menu.
  • Is the Person's interest / control direct or indirect? – Will be automatically populated (N/A).
  • Extent of interest/control: % owned or controlled: - Will be automatically populated (N/A).
  • Further information / clarification in relation to nature / extent of ownership / control - this cell is mandatory and can be used to provide further details. A maximum character limit of 400 characters is permitted in this field.

Guidance for Unit Trusts when making a submission:

Trustee/Settlor/Management Company

  • If the Trustee/Settlor/Management Company is a corporate/legal entity, select ‘Add Corporate Entity’ option.
  • Add Corporate Entity Name, Registered Address, Town/City and select Country from drop down menu.
  • Relationship to CFV – Select Trustee / Settlor / Management Company as required
  • Add Date CFV entered relationship with the corporate entity

Article 3(6) of 4AMLD, states that a shareholding of 25% plus one share or an ownership interest of more than 25% in a subsidiary held by multiple corporate or other legal entities which are under the control of the same natural person(s), shall be an indication of indirect beneficial ownership.

For example should a natural person with shares in a CFV amount to 25% or less of the value of the shares, they are not deemed to be a Beneficial Owner. However if the natural person has 25% of the shares plus one additional share, then they are a Beneficial Owner and their details must be registered on the Central Register of CFV.

Control "by other means" is defined by Article 3(6), 4AMLD, as “Control through other means may be determined, inter alia, in accordance with the criteria in Article 22(1) to (5) of Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ……. on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings,”

The Directive also states that control via other means can be defined as follows:

"Control through other means may, inter alia, include the criteria of control used for the purpose of preparing consolidated financial statements, such as

  • through a shareholders' agreement
  • the exercise of dominant influence or
  • the power to appoint senior management"

The Central Bank advises that CFV seek their own legal advice for direction in establishing who their Beneficial Owners are.

The Directive and Regulations 5(2) of SI 110/2019 states that "all reasonable steps" should be taken to establish who the natural person Beneficial Owner is.

The steps involved include:

  • giving notice under Regulations 6 & 7 of SI 110 of 2019 to any natural person(s) that the CFV or its presenter has reasonable cause to believe to be a beneficial owner. Once issued, the natural person(s) to whom this notice has been issued has one month to provide the necessary details; or
  • giving notice under Regulations 8 & 9 of SI 110 of 2019 to any person(s) that the CFV or its presenter has reasonable cause to believe to have knowledge of that set out in Regulation 9. Once issued, the person(s) to whom this notice has been issued has one month to provide the necessary details.

Failure by the natural person to reply and cooperate with the CFV or to make a false statement is a criminal offence.

Where all reasonable steps to identify the beneficial owners have been exhausted unsuccessfully, the Regulations provide that the Senior Managing Officials (e.g. the Director(s) or CEO) shall be deemed the beneficial owners. CFV shall keep records of the actions taken to identify their beneficial owners (pursuant to Regulation 5(5) of SI 110 of 2019).

Regulation 2 of SI 110 of 2019 defines a "senior managing official" as including a director and a chief executive officer.

Where a CFV is in liquidation, the appointed liquidator is expected to be listed as a beneficial owner for the CFV, replacing all other SMO; i.e. remove beneficial owner option should be selected and a cease date recorded for all other SMO. The following reporting rules should be observed when making a submission in respect of a Liquidator:

  • Select Add Beneficial Owner
  • Add Beneficial Owner information fields required: Forename, Surname, Date of Birth, PPSN/CBI Reference Number, Select relevant Nationality from the drop-down menu
  • Add Residential Address information fields required: Address Line 1 (mandatory), Address Lines 2/3 as applicable, Town/City (mandatory), Select relevant Country from drop down menu

Add Nature of Beneficial Ownership fields required: Nature of Interest – select Liquidator, Direct or Indirect will be automatically populated (N/A), Extent of Interest/Control will be automatically populated (N/A), Further information in relation to nature/extent of ownership can be provided as required, subject to a maximum 400 character limit, Date person became a beneficial owner must be entered.

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.

Beneficial Ownership Information

The following information is required to be submitted:

  •  Name
  • Date of Birth
  • PPS Number
  • Central Bank of Ireland reference number (as applicable to Non-PPSN holders)
  • Nationality
  • Address
  • Nature of interest / control
  • Is the Person's interest / control direct or indirect?
  • Extent of interest / control: % owned or controlled
  • Further information / clarification in relation to nature / extent of ownership / control
  • Date on which the person was entered into the entity's internal register as a beneficial owner
  • Date on which the person left the entity’s internal register as a beneficial owner (where applicable)

CFV and their agents should be aware of their responsibilities under GDPR legislation for safeguarding any personal data they hold in respect of its beneficial owners.

CFV should seek their own legal advice to ensure compliance in this regard.

Regulation 21(2) of S.I. 110 of 2019 (as amended) and sections 52 and 63 of Investment Limited Partnership Act 2020 provide for the collection of the PPS number of each beneficial owner, for the purpose of verification of the information delivered to the register.

The information entered in the register will be compared with Department of Social Protection (DSP) database. The Date of Birth and PPSN provided will be checked for a 100% match against the DSP database by comparing the forename and surname returned from the DSP against the forename and surname of the beneficial owner entered in the Beneficial Ownership Information Return.

Where the validation protocol does not provide a 100% match, the return will be set to ‘Invalid’ status on the Central Bank of Ireland Portal. Details of the validation error(s) will be provided automatically by email to the portal user. Where such discrepancies arise, the portal user should notify the beneficial owner, who in turn must contact the Department of Social Protection directly at CFV@welfare.ie in order to resolve the discrepancy.

An edit change consisting of a name update would require PPSN to be re-entered and for the necessary validation to take place against the DSP. Should this validation fail, the central register will not be updated with successful change. The Beneficial Owner must contact CFV@Welfare.ie to resolve the discrepancy.

Where a validation error occurs relating to the Central Bank of Ireland reference number provided, the change will not be successful on the Central Bank of Ireland Portal. The Presenter will receive a notification on screen containing a description of any errors that have occurred. The portal user must ensure that the details provided align with the details pertaining to the CBI reference number, as per the PCF Information Return on portal.

Once the PPSN has been validated, the PPSN will be retained securely in an irreversible hashed format and the original PPSN will be deleted after validation.

Where a beneficial owner(s) of a CFV does not hold a PPSN, but the individual(s) has/have been previously appointed in a Pre-Approval Controlled Function (PCF), as required under Fitness and Probity Standards, the corresponding CBI reference number obtained under this process may be included for the purpose of providing beneficial ownership information to the central register. This serves as an alternative to PPSN (i.e. only where the Beneficial Owner has not been granted a PPS number), given that verification of information has previously been established as part of the Fitness and Probity regime.

Where neither a PPSN nor a CBI reference number is available for the beneficial owner(s) of a CFV, a Declaration as to Verification of Identity Form must be completed by the Beneficial Owner, and uploaded via the Verification of Identity Return by the CFV’s presenter, on behalf of each beneficial owner. View further information on the Verification of Identity process.

Where neither a PPSN nor a CBI reference number is available for the beneficial owner(s) of a CFV, a Declaration as to Verification of Identity Form must be completed by the Beneficial Owner, and uploaded via the Verification of Identity Return by the CFV’s presenter, on behalf of each beneficial owner. View further information on the Verification of Identity process.

The RBO number cannot be used for the purpose of reporting to the Central Bank of Ireland Beneficial Ownership Register of Certain Financial Vehicles. Reporting to each register is mutually exclusive, therefore the RBO number is required for reporting to RBO and CBI reference number is required for reporting to the Beneficial Ownership Register of Certain Financial Vehicles, where PPSN information is not available for beneficial owners.

S.I. No. 233 of 2020 states the CFV  (Irish Collective Asset-Management Vehicle, Unit Trust, Credit Union) that are required to maintain up to date beneficial ownership details on the Register. Further the Investment Limited Partnership (Amendment) Act 2020 provides that Investment Limited Partnerships and Common Contractual Funds are required to report beneficial ownership information to the register.

The Central Bank publishes, and updates on a monthly basis, the list of Certain Financial Vehicles (CFV) for whom beneficial ownership information is available on the Beneficial Ownership Register of Certain Financial Vehicles, for which the Central Bank holds responsibility, following the transposition of relevant articles of the European AML Directives 4 and 5, under S.I. 110 of 2019, as amended by S.I. 233 of 2020. Currently, the certain financial vehicles contained on the register managed by the Central Bank of Ireland are:

  • Irish Collective Asset-Management Vehicles (ICAV)
  • Unit Trusts
  • Credit Unions
  • Investment Limited Partnerships
  • Common Contractual Funds

S.I. 110 of 2019 transposed relevant articles of 4AMLD and 5AMLD that require companies and industrial and provident societies to maintain an internal register of their beneficial owners and to file this information with a central register, responsibility for which was conferred on the Registrar of Companies, under which the Register of Beneficial Ownership operates.

S.I. 194 of 2021 transposed relevant articles of 4AMLD and 5AMLD that require a central register of beneficial ownership of trusts to be established, and for which responsibility was conferred on the Revenue Commissioners.

Further information in relation to the Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies is available at https://rbo.gov.ie/.

Further information in relation to the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts is available at https://www.revenue.ie/en/crbot/index.aspx.

An officer or employee of a CFV can complete the registration process on the Central Bank of Ireland Portal.

Beneficial ownership information may be submitted to the Central Bank by a person (defined in accordance with Regulation 22(1) of S.I. No 110 of 2019, as the "presenter") acting on behalf of the CFV.

The "presenter" will be required to submit the following details on the return's spreadsheet (in addition to the CFV's beneficial ownership details):

  • Capacity in which the Presenter is acting

How to submit Beneficial Ownership Information

To register the beneficial ownership information the presenter for the CFV must log into the Central Bank of Ireland Portal using their assigned credentials. and select Beneficial Ownership Register from the options on the left panel of the screen, selecting the relevant entity for which they wish to view/add/edit beneficial ownership information.

Guidance materials, including Beneficial Ownership System Guidance, are available on the Submit or Amend CFV Beneficial Ownership Details page of the Central Bank of Ireland.  Please ensure you read the supporting materials in advance of  providing the relevant information to the register.

Please contact BOR@centralbank.ie if you are experiencing difficulty in making a submission to the register.

No – all relevant Beneficial Ownership information  must be provided through the Central Bank of Ireland's Portal. If personal details are submitted by hard copy to the Central Bank of Ireland, these will be destroyed in line with GDPR legislation. CFV will be informed of this should they post in details and their obligation to submit beneficial ownership details will be deemed unfulfilled.

In order to complete an update to the register, the Presenter must click ‘Submit All Changes’ on the Portal. Following this a ‘Success’ Pop-Up message is displayed on the top right-hand side of the screen. The status column will then change to display ‘Submitted’ and the bottom left hand side of the screen will display the message: ‘Register last updated for this CFV on DD/MM/YYYY’ (i.e. the date the changes were made).

Please see Beneficial Ownership System Guidance for further information.

Timeframes?

Yes. All CFV must submit details of their beneficial ownership to the Register with six months of them becoming authorised or registered (as appropriate).

Levy

As provided for in the European Union (Modifications of Statutory Instrument No. 110 of 2019) (Registration of Beneficial Ownership of Certain Financial Vehicles) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No 233 of 2020), in respect of Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles, Credit Unions and Unit Trusts, the Central Bank is legally required to recoup any costs arising from implementation and operation of the Register of Beneficial Ownership of Certain Financial Vehicles (CFV) and cannot fund such costs from its own resources. Sections 38(3) and 61(3) of the Investment Limited Partnership (Amendment) Act 2020 also provide for the Central Bank to recoup any costs arising from the implementation and operation of the Register in respect of Investment Limited Partnerships and Common Contractual Funds.

CFV are required to pay a levy in respect of 2025 costs of the Beneficial Ownership Register in 2026. Details of the levy process have been communicated to CFV.

All Irish Collective Asset Management Vehicles, Credit Unions and Unit Trusts, Investment Limited Partnerships and Common Contractual Funds which held a registration or authorisation in the levy period, are eligible to pay the levy for the period 2025, which will be invoiced in July 2026.

 

The levy can be paid by Electronic Fund Transfer to the account details below:

Bank Identifier Code:   DABAIE2D

IBAN   :   IE19DABA95199010002216

Account Name: Central Bank of Ireland

Reference Information Required: Please include the customer account number and/or invoice number shown to enable us to allocate the payment to your account. Otherwise, we will be obliged to return the payment, which may result in bank charges. All information to be relayed to the beneficiary (customer/invoice no.) should be populated in the correct fields on the payment:

  • SEPA Payment: Remittance Information field(Unstructured Remittance tag in an XML file - <Ustrd>)
  • MT103:field 70

Where possible, one payment should be made for each invoice (and not multiple payments per invoice).

CFV should ensure that the Central Bank of Ireland is provided with an up to date email address for the relevant person/department in the firm responsible for the payment of levy invoices. This will ensure invoices are appropriately addressed. 

The levy amount is based on the costs incurred by the Central Bank of Ireland to establish and operate the Beneficial Ownership Register in 2025. Costs are internally verified and subject to external audit, and once final, these costs  for the relevant period are shared across the number of eligible Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles, Unit Trusts, Credit Unions, Investment Limited Partnerships and Common Contractual Funds as at 31 December of the financial year to which the costs apply, to determine the levy amount for the relevant period.

Payment is required within 28 calendar days of the invoice date.

Payment related queries should be directed to the Billing & Collections Team – billing@centralbank.ie.   All other queries should be directed to BOR@centralbank.ie.

Certain Financial Vehicles Dedicated Levy Notification 2025 | pdf 153 KB

Discrepancies 

S.I. 110 of 2019 provides for discrepancies to be reported to the Registrar (i.e. Central Bank) by a designated person or a competent authority.

 Regulation 20(3)(b) of SI 110 of 2019 states that if a designated person carrying out customer due diligence on Certain Financial Vehicles (CFV), or otherwise, forms the opinion that there is a discrepancy between the information in the Register and the information the CFV must hold in its internal register of beneficial ownership, then the designated person shall deliver, in a timely manner, to the Registrar (“the Central Bank”) notice of that opinion, specifying the particulars of the discrepancy it has noted.

Regulation 26(1) states that if a competent authority forms the opinion that there is a discrepancy between the information relating to a relevant entity (i.e. CFV) in the Register, and other beneficial ownership information available to the competent authority relating to the same CFV, to the extent that it does not interfere unnecessarily with the performance of the functions of the competent authority, the competent authority shall deliver, in a timely manner to the Registrar, notice of that opinion specifying the particulars of the discrepancy.

A Discrepancy Notice is a formal notification to the Registrar of a discrepancy, as explained above, by a Designated Person or relevant person in a competent authority.

Only a person who is either an appointed officer of a competent authority/ relevant person (see section “Access to the register” for the list of competent authorities/relevant person) or a designated person as outlined by Part 4 of the 2010 Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act to conduct customer due diligence tests.

Please email BOR@centralbank.ie with the following details:

  • Name of the competent authority/relevant person you are acting on behalf of, or
  • The name of the designated person you are acting on behalf of.

Please ensure you are:

  • acting on behalf of a designated person as defined in Section 25, Part 4 of the 2010 Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act, or
  • acting on behalf of a competent authority/relevant person.

On receipt of notification of a discrepancy report, a Discrepancy Notice Form will be provided by the Central Bank via secure means. Following receipt of the completed form via secure means, the discrepancy will be investigated by the Central Bank.

Contact Us

If you have any further questions about the Register

Email: BOR@centralbank.ie