Summary


A nominee is an individual or entity who is acting on behalf of another person (the true owner). The nominee is listed as a Director or Shareholder, however has no control or beneficial ownership of the company, and is only acting on instruction of the true owner. If you have a nominee director or shareholder, you will have a Deed of Nomination. 

 

It is rare for New Zealand, Australia or United Kingdom Companies to have any nominee directors or nominee shareholders, if you haven’t heard of them, chances are there are no nominees in your own entity structure. 

 

If you do not have any of the below - please tick "NO" on our secure web form when prompted as shown below:  

 

Click the arrow circled as shown below to expand the secure web form:


Select "No" and then click "submit" to confirm shareholding




TABLE OF CONTENTS




What is a nominee?

 

In business, a nominee is an individual or entity who is acting on behalf of someone else (the true owner). The overall ownership, benefits and liabilities still lie with the true owners who may be a Domestic or International business.




What is a nominee director/ shareholder/ general partner?

 

A nominee Director is listed as a Director, however has no control over the company, and is acting on instruction of the true owner. 


A nominee Shareholder is listed as a Shareholder, however has no beneficial ownership of the company, and is holding the shares on behalf of the true owner. 


A nominee General Partner is a company who is listed as the General Partner within a Limited Partnership, however is acting on behalf of the true owner.


What are shares in bearer form?

 

Shares held in bearer form are when an individual (listed publicly as “The Bearer”) owns shares anonymously in the form of a physical share certificate. The only way of knowing who the owner is, is if they are holding the share certificate in their hand. 

 

Bearer shares are considered high-risk in the eyes of the AML/CFT Act as this method of ownership is highly unregulated, and it is very easy to hide the real beneficial owner. This means that it is very rare in New Zealand and illegal in Australia and United Kingdom.

 

 


What if my entity structure does have any of the above?

 

You will find when you click "YES" on our web form that we will ask for you to upload the Deed of Nomination for your company. You will then be contacted by the First AML team assigned to your case to provide Source of Wealth evidence



 

See: What is a Source of Wealth?