Beneficial Owners
A beneficial owner is the natural person who ultimately owns or controls an entity such as a company, trust or partnership through:
- Direct or indirect ownership of a sufficient percentage of the shares; or
- Voting rights or ownership interest in that entity; or
- Control via other means (other than a company listed on a regulated market that is subject to disclosure requirements consistent with Australian law or subject to equivalent international standards which ensure adequate transparency of ownership information). For trusts, if the trustee is an individual, that individual. If the trustee is a company/partnership, the beneficial owners of those entities.
“Owns” in this case means owning 25% or more of the entity. This can be directly (such as through shareholdings) or indirectly (such as through another entity’s ownership or through a bank or broker).
“Controls” in this case means having the power to make decisions about the entity’s finances and operations. They may exert control through trusts (like an appointor or trustee), agreements, arrangements, understandings, policies or practices.
Note that an entity may have more than one beneficial owner.
Authorised Signatories
Any person who will act as an Authorised Signatory on the merchant account.