Q: what is the purpose and significance of issuing the "Management measures"?

A: to improve the transparency of the marketOne3descenticereelTo maintain market order and financial order, prevent and curb money laundering and terrorist financing activities, in accordance with relevant laws and administrative regulations on anti-money laundering and enterprise registration management, and with the approval of the State Council, the people's Bank of China, in conjunction with the State Administration of Market Supervision, issued the measures for the Management of the Information of beneficiary owners (hereinafter referred to as the "Administration measures"), which makes specific provisions on the filing and management of the information of beneficiary owners.

From a domestic point of view, the establishment of a beneficiary owner information filing system is a major measure to optimize the business environment in our country. China has disclosed the main ownership structure information of enterprises to the public in the enterprise credit information publicity system, and promoted the construction of the information filing system of beneficiary owners, which can more clearly reflect the ownership structure, ultimate control and benefits of companies and other entities, improve market transparency, enhance information symmetry and mutual trust among business entities, improve transaction security and transaction efficiency, and further optimize the business environment of our country. At the same time, the beneficiary owner information filing system helps to prevent violations such as shell companies, false capital injection and nested shareholding from the source, helps to crack down on illegal and criminal activities such as telecommunications network fraud, and helps to prevent and curb corruption.

From an international point of view, the centralized filing of beneficiary owners has become an international standard requirement and a common international practice. The Group of 20 (G20) has been promoting the transparency of beneficiary ownership. The World Bank has listed the beneficiary owner registration system as an important indicator in the assessment of the business environment, and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has also listed it as an important indicator in the international assessment of anti-money laundering. At present, all the major economies in the world have established the system.

Q: which subjects need to record the beneficiary information?

Answer: companies, partnerships and branches of foreign companies are the "filing subjects" stipulated in the Management measures at present. Individual industrial and commercial households do not need to record the beneficiary information. Non-corporate enterprises as legal persons, sole proprietorship enterprises, farmers' specialized cooperatives (United societies) and their branches, as well as branches of domestic companies and partnerships, do not need to file for the benefit owner for the time being.

Q: what is "beneficiary owner"? How to determine the "beneficiary owner"?

A: the beneficiary owner refers to the natural person who finally owns or actually controls the filing subject, or enjoys the final benefits of the filing subject.

Article 6 of the Administrative measures sets out the identification criteria for beneficiary owners.One3descenticereelDetailed rules have been made. A natural person who meets one of the following criteria is the beneficiary owner of the filing subject:

Standard 1: a natural person who finally owns more than 25% of the equity, shares or partnership rights and interests of the filing subject directly or indirectly.

Standard 2: a natural person who does not meet standard 1, but ultimately enjoys more than 25% of the income rights and voting rights of the filing subject.

Standard 3: a natural person who alone or jointly exercises actual control over the filing subject, although it does not meet standard 1.

The beneficiary owner may have more than one natural person, and any natural person who meets one of the above three criteria should be put on record as the beneficiary owner. If the beneficiary owner cannot be identified through the above criteria, the person responsible for day-to-day operation and management shall be regarded as the beneficiary owner.

The beneficiary owner is similar to the "actual controller" stipulated in the Company Law, but they are different. First of all, the beneficiary owner includes ownership, control and income. The beneficiary owner can be not only the owner of the company (partnership), but also the controller and beneficiary of the company (partnership). Secondly, the beneficiary owner needs to penetrate to the natural person. The "actual controller" can be either a legal person or a natural person, and the beneficiary owner is a natural person. When identifying the beneficiary owners, it is necessary to "penetrate" layers upon layers to the natural persons who ultimately own, actually control the filing subject or enjoy their final benefits.

Q: what measures will the people's Bank of China take to facilitate filing subjects, especially small and medium-sized enterprises to fill in the information of beneficiary owners?

A: for most filing subjects, the beneficiary owners are the natural persons who ultimately hold more than 25% of the shares. Only the filing subjects with complex equity arrangements need to be identified one by one in accordance with the standards stipulated in the Management measures. For the filing subjects with complex equity (partnership rights and interests) structure, the people's Bank of China will issue a "Guide for filing Information of beneficiary owners" to provide guidance for their reporting work.

In order to simplify the reporting process for small and medium-sized enterprises, the Management measures provide for a simplified measure of "commitment exemption". Qualified small and medium-sized enterprises can read the undertaking in the system and check confirmation to avoid further reporting of beneficiary owner information.

After the promulgation of the "Management measures", the people's Bank of China will timely provide online guidelines to facilitate the masses and enterprises to understand the relevant policies, publish local consultation telephones, and answer the difficult questions encountered by the filing subjects through telephone consultation.

Q: how do the provisions of the Management measures on the protection of information of beneficiary owners be taken into account?

A: from an international point of view, China adopts relatively prudent requirements for the information security and privacy protection of beneficiary owners. The international policy on the information management of beneficiary owners can be divided into two categories: one is that the information of beneficiary owners is regarded as public information, which can be publicly inquired by the whole society, such as the United Kingdom, and the other is regarded as non-public information. it is only for government departments and anti-money laundering agencies to inquire when performing their legal duties, such as the United States, Singapore and so on. China adopts the second type of policy, which emphasizes the confidentiality of information and makes it clear that the information of the beneficiary owners on record is not disclosed to the public, which is detailed in Article 12 of the Administrative measures.