Anti-money laundering and beneficial owners

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS
The anti-money laundering regulations in force in Italy, governed mainly by Legislative Decree 231/2007 and subsequent amendments, aim to prevent the use of the economic and financial system for illegal purposes, in particular for the laundering of proceeds from criminal activities and for the financing of terrorism. The legislator has established that a wide range of entities – including financial intermediaries, professionals, auditors and other economic operators – must adopt internal procedures and controls aimed at adequately knowing their customers and identifying any anomalous behaviour. The core of these requirements is the adequate verification of customers. Each obliged entity must identify the customer, verify their identity through reliable documents and assess the nature and purpose of the relationship or professional service requested. This process is not static: the legislation requires constant monitoring to verify whether the customer’s behaviour remains consistent with their declared economic and financial profile over time. Another pillar of the system concerns the retention of documentation: all data collected must be archived for ten years to allow for possible checks by the competent authorities. When, in the course of professional activity, transactions emerge that present anomalies or lack a plausible economic justification, there is an obligation to report the suspicious transaction to the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), which is responsible for analysing and investigating such situations.
BENEFICIAL OWNER
The concept of beneficial owner plays a central role in the anti-money laundering system. Identifying the beneficial owner makes it possible to understand who ultimately exercises control or benefits from a given legal entity. The legislation requires going beyond the formal level of ownership to identify the natural persons who actually own or control the structure. For limited companies, the beneficial owner is normally the natural person who directly or indirectly holds more than 25% of the capital or voting rights. However, shareholding is not the only criterion: if it is not possible to identify a person on the basis of shareholdings, it is necessary to analyse control mechanisms, such as shareholders’ agreements, special rights or the ability to influence corporate decisions. If none of the above criteria allow a beneficial owner to be identified, the legislation provides for a residual criterion that attributes this status to persons in senior positions, such as directors or managers. The issue of beneficial ownership has taken on further importance with the establishment of the Register of Beneficial Owners at the Companies Register. Companies and other entities subject to this obligation must periodically report data relating to their beneficial owner and keep it up to date, thereby helping to strengthen the transparency and traceability of corporate structures.