When an authorized representative or signatory of a company or association completes the Know Your Customer (KYC) questionnaire, they must provide information about the company's beneficial owner or beneficial owners.
Limited liability companies must register information about their beneficial owners with the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket). We cannot approve your KYC until the required information has been registered with Bolagsverket.
What is a beneficial owner?
A beneficial owner is the natural person or persons who ultimately own or control a company.
A person may control a limited liability company in different ways, for example by:
Owning more than 25% of the voting rights through shares.
Having the right to appoint or remove more than half of the board members.
It is sufficient to meet one of the criteria above.
A person may also be considered a beneficial owner due to provisions in, for example, the company's articles of association or statutes, even if they do not meet the criteria above. In such cases, the person must still be registered as a beneficial owner.
Related parties
If a person owns or controls a limited liability company together with related parties, their control must be considered together.
Related parties include:
Spouses, cohabitants and registered partners.
Parents.
Children.
Children's spouses, cohabitants and registered partners.
Practical examples
One person owns 28% of a limited liability company. The person is a beneficial owner. A company may have more than one beneficial owner.
Two spouses each own 15% of a limited liability company. Because they are related, their control is considered together, and both are beneficial owners.
Four shareholders each own 25%. None of them is a beneficial owner based solely on their individual shareholding.
One person owns 100% of a limited liability company, which in turn owns all the shares in another company. The person is a beneficial owner of both companies.
Read more
Read more about beneficial ownership on the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket) website:
Beneficial ownership register – Bolagsverket
Please note
Limited liability companies must register information about their beneficial owners with Bolagsverket, and we cannot approve your KYC until the required information has been registered.
Non-profit associations are subject to specific rules. If an association does not have a beneficial owner, this does not need to be reported to Bolagsverket. If the association has a beneficial owner, the information may need to be registered in connection with the Know Your Customer process.