According to UK company law, all shareholder and director information must be publicly disclosed at Companies House and on the firm's statutory registers for a registered company.
You might be wondering what to do if you wish to remain anonymous as the company's legal owner as the beneficiary owner. If so, a nominee shareholder will be your best option.
Source: Nominee shareholder UK
What does a nominee shareholder mean in the UK?
The registered owner of shares held on behalf of the real beneficial owner is the nominee shareholder. The beneficial owner may choose a nominee if they prefer to remain anonymous and do not want their details to be made public.
An individual or a business can be a nominee shareholder. In other words, a nominee shareholder is only a shareholder of a firm in name only because they do not actually own any shares or anything else.
A nominee shareholder only functions as a legitimate, unaffiliated third party that is formally listed as the holder of shares on behalf of the actual shareholder. This prevents the real share holder from being connected with a certain firm in the public eye.
Is the nominated shareholder secure?
In terms of legal security, the appointment of a nominee shareholder won't provide any problems to the beneficial owner in the event of a future disagreement because the nominee shareholder had lawfully permitted their name to be used as the registered owner of the shares.
The following are a few things to consider with regard to safety to allay your worries:
The nominee shareholder will only be a shareholder in its name. Since the shares are publicly registered, you don't need to be concerned that the nominated shareholder will possess them.
Regardless of whether the nominee shareholder's name appears on the public list, you will always be the owner of your share capital and have complete control over them.
The nominated shareholder won't be given any authority over your company's assets, even if they may occasionally have access to them.
There is thus no need for you to worry as long as you have a documented agreement of trust. The level of safety is quite low, though, if the agreement is solely orally expressed.
The advantages of choosing a nominee shareholder
These are the main advantages of having a nominated shareholder act on your behalf:
Anonymity: Your identity will be shielded and concealed.
Your identity, as well as other personal information, such as your home address and any assets you may hold, will be secured.
Furthermore, since the appointment is only made between the beneficial owner and the nominee themselves, no one can determine that a shareholder appearing on the list is a nominee shareholder.
How to designate a nominee shareholder
In order to designate a nominee shareholder, you must first complete the Declaration of Trust (also known as a custodial agreement), a document that must be signed by both the nominee shareholder and the actual shareholder in order to preserve the assets of the real owner.
If you are unclear about how to go about doing this, we advise using a trustworthy agency like BBCIncorp to help you with the procedure, paperwork, and other related tasks. We provide nominee services in the UK, such as nominee director and shareholder, to assist protect your anonymity on public records.
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