Identifying ultimate beneficial owners (UBO) in case of non-individual investors is mandatory for fund houses.
In a bid to prevent money laundering, fund houses are supposed to identify ultimate beneficial owners (UBO) in case of non-individual investors (listed companies are exempted) as part of the SEBI guidelines pertaining to anti money laundering.
SEBI defines UBO as the natural person or persons, who ultimately own, control or influence a client and/or persons on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted, and includes a person who exercises ultimate effective control over a legal person or arrangement.
Investors such as unlisted companies, unincorporated association / body of individuals, trusts, limited liability partnerships, religious trusts, etc. are required to furnish details regarding UBO. Individuals, listed companies, foreign investors, are not required to comply with this rule.
Non individual investors have to furnish PAN along with filled up UBO form. UBO forms can be downloaded from AMC websites. A KYC acknowledgement copy has to be submitted along with the UBO form.
In this form, quoting the relevant UB code is mandatory. There are 10 UB codes prescribed by SEBI which are as follows:
