Nigeria launches beneficial ownership register

The federal government has launched the beneficial ownership register (BOR) for registered companies in the country.

The register was launched on Friday in Abuja placing Nigeria as the first African country to collect beneficial ownership data in line with the open ownership data standard.

BOR was built by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), civil society organisations and other development partners, containing the information of persons with significant control of companies.

“The project is toward the realisation of Nigeria’s Beneficiary Ownership by the international standard of Beneficiary Ownership Data Standards (BODS) under the guidance of the World Bank. This portal provides a search function and information on Persons with Significant Control (PSC).

“It also provides an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) gateway for data exchange in accordance with BODS in JSON format.

“This service will provide the module for data exchange between CRP and external applications/databases like Global Beneficiary Ownership Register G-BOR.

“The data in the database forms the basis for data exchange. Any data exchange with external systems like Open Ownership will be communicated via a standard REST service, governed by the standard protocol of CAC Enterprise Service Bus”.

According to CAC, the Companies and Allied Matters Act, (CAMA), 2020 provides the legal framework for beneficial ownership information disclosure in Nigeria.

“The implementation of the new legal regime has warranted the design, development and deployment of an electronic filing system that will accommodate information on persons with significant control in registered entities.

“The threshold for disclosure is put at 5% minimum in terms of shareholding, interest, voting rights, right to appoint/remove Directors or any significant influence or control over a registered entity. The quantum of powers to be held or exercised for this purpose can be directly or indirectly.

“The disclosure required under this legal framework is focused on the natural person who is the ultimate beneficial owner in an entity.

“The information on persons with significant control (PSC) provides the interface for reliable, effective and productive disclosure framework for new registrations and post-registration activities in line with global best practices”.