Beneficial Ownership Register
Definition
A public or restricted-access registry identifying the natural persons who ultimately own or control legal entities such as companies, trusts, and partnerships. In the UK, the People with Significant Control (PSC) register is maintained at Companies House, while the EU's Anti-Money Laundering Directives require member states to maintain central beneficial ownership registers. These registers support transparency and anti-money laundering efforts.
Complementary Terms
Concepts that frequently appear alongside Beneficial Ownership Register in practice.
The regulatory requirement for financial institutions and certain other businesses to verify the identity of their clients, assess their risk profile, and monitor transactions for suspicious activity. KYC procedures are mandated by anti-money laundering regulations including the EU's Anti-Money Laundering Directives and the UK's Money Laundering Regulations 2017, and form the first line of defence against financial crime.
The body of laws, regulations, and procedures designed to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained funds as legitimate income. AML compliance requires financial institutions to implement customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, suspicious activity reporting, and record-keeping.
The legal process by which a creditor's security interest in collateral becomes enforceable against third parties, typically through registration (UCC filing, PPSA registration, or Companies House filing), possession of the collateral, or control over financial assets. Perfection establishes the creditor's priority ranking relative to other secured parties.
A market approach valuation technique that estimates the value of a subject company by reference to the prices paid in actual acquisitions of comparable businesses. The method involves identifying relevant transactions, extracting implied valuation multiples, adjusting for differences in timing, deal structure, and synergy expectations, and applying the adjusted multiples to the subject company.
The filing of a security interest under a Personal Property Securities Act, which is the legal framework governing secured transactions over personal property (including intangible assets) in jurisdictions such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canadian provinces. PPSA registration perfects the security interest, establishes priority against competing claims, and provides public notice of the encumbrance.
The ecosystem of business models, partnerships, and revenue streams enabled by application programming interfaces that allow software systems to communicate and share data. APIs enable companies to monetise their data and functionality, create platform ecosystems, and embed services into third-party applications.
A security interest granted by a borrower over its intellectual property assets — including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets — as collateral for a loan or other financial obligation. IP charges must typically be registered at both the relevant IP registry (such as the UK Intellectual Property Office or USPTO) and the general security interests registry (Companies House, UCC, or PPSA).
A market approach valuation technique that estimates the value of a subject company by reference to the trading multiples of publicly listed companies with similar business characteristics. The method involves identifying comparable public companies, selecting appropriate valuation multiples (such as EV/EBITDA or P/E), making adjustments for differences in size, growth, risk, and marketability, and applying the adjusted multiples to the subject company's financial metrics.
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