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Updated December 11, 2023
In May 2016, the U.S. government passed a new regulation regarding the beneficial ownership of legal entity customers. On May 11, 2018, it became mandatory for all financial institutions to comply with this regulation by identifying the ultimate beneficial owner(s) and a controlling person of a legal entity customer opening or maintaining an account.
In compliance with this regulation, Providence Bank & Trust collects beneficial ownership information from legal entity customers. This means that any time an account is opened or maintained for a legal entity, we will request information that identifies the ultimate beneficial owner(s) and controlling person of the legal entity.
The required identifying information includes:
This information will need to be collected whether or not the person identified is a Providence Bank & Trust customer. This information will also be collected for existing legal entity customers who establish or maintain accounts once this new regulation is implemented at Providence Bank & Trust.
While we understand the information requested is personal and sensitive, we need to obtain this information in order to comply with the law. As always, we will treat all information collected with the utmost care. All information will be stored securely and handled with the same standard of privacy that we have always maintained.
In September of 2022, The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule update to Beneficial Ownership implementing the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act’s (CTA) Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting provisions. The rule will enhance the ability of FinCEN and other agencies to protect U.S. national security and the U.S. financial system from illicit use and provide essential information to national security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies; state, local, and Tribal officials; and financial institutions to help prevent drug traffickers, fraudsters, corrupt actors such as oligarchs, and proliferators from laundering or hiding money and other assets in the United States.
The rule describes who must file a BOI report, what information must be reported, and when a report is due. Specifically, the rule requires reporting companies to file reports with FinCEN that identify two categories of individuals: (1) the beneficial owners of the entity; and (2) the company applicants of the entity.
Beginning January 1, 2024, many companies will be required to report Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) directly to FinCEN. This reporting will need to be completed electronically on the FinCEN website by all companies who are required to report. The FinCEN website will begin accepting filing reports on January 1, 2024.
While certain types of entities are exempt, if you are a small corporation or LLC, you will likely be required to report your beneficial ownership information to FinCEN. A key factor in determining whether your company will have to report is whether you had to file a document with your state’s secretary of state or a similar office to create your company or, for foreign companies, register it to do business in the United States.
A beneficial owner is any individual who exercises substantial control over your company, or who owns or controls at least 25 percent of your company.
There can be up to two individuals who qualify as company applicants – (1) the individual who directly files the document that creates, or first registers, the reporting company; and (2) the individual that is primarily responsible for directing or controlling the filing of the relevant document.
Your company is only required to report its company applicants if it is created or registered on or after January 1, 2024.
A reporting company will need to provide: (1) its legal name and any trade name or DBA; (2) its address; (3) the jurisdiction in which it was formed or first registered, depending on whether it’s a U.S. or foreign company; and (4) its Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).
For each of your company’s beneficial owners and each company applicant (if required), your company will need to provide the individual’s: (1) legal name; (2) birthdate; (3) address (in most cases, a home address); and (4) an identifying number from a driver’s license, passport, or other approved document for each individual, as well as an image of the document that the number is from.
Beginning January 1, 2024, many companies will be required to report Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) directly to FinCEN. This reporting will need to be completed electronically on the FinCEN website by all companies who are required to report. The FinCEN website will begin accepting filing reports on January 1, 2024.
Your company will have 30 days to report any changes to reported information. For updates, the 30 days start from when the relevant change occurs. For corrections, the 30 days start after you become aware of, or have reason to know of, an inaccuracy in a prior report.
