Beneficial ownership

Beneficial ownership is the concept of having something that is really yours, but you don't have it in your name. To better understand this, let's use a toy car as an example.

Imagine your friend gives you a toy car to play with, but he doesn't want to give it away because it belongs to his little brother. You can still use and play with the toy car, but you have to take care of it and make sure it does not get damaged. You can use it however you like, but at the end of the day, it's still your friend's brother's toy car, and he gets the final say over it.

In the same way, beneficial ownership refers to something that is legally owned by someone else but is in your possession or control. This can apply to businesses, properties, and other assets. For example, a company A owns a property, but the property is used and managed by another company B. In this case, company B is the beneficial owner of the property, even though the legal owner is company A.

Beneficial ownership is important because it can be used to hide illegal activities such as money laundering, corruption, and tax evasion. Therefore, governments and organizations are implementing laws and regulations to ensure that the beneficial owners of assets are disclosed and known to avoid any illicit activities.