What is a UBO?
An ultimate beneficial owner is the human being who ultimately owns or controls a company, however many companies, trusts or nominees sit in between. The word that matters is ultimate: if Company A is owned by Company B, the UBO is not Company B but whoever stands behind it.
Most regimes treat someone as a UBO when they hold more than 25% of shares or voting rights, directly or indirectly, or otherwise control the company. Every company has at least one human at the end of the chain; the question is whether the records let you see them.
The 25% rule, and why it can mislead
The 25% threshold is a reporting convention, not a law of nature. Thresholds vary by country and regime, four people holding 24.9% each can mean nobody is registered as a UBO, and control can exist with no shareholding at all (through veto rights, board control or arrangements with nominees). Treat a register entry as a starting claim to verify, not a fact established: the register records what was declared, and declarations can be wrong or out-of-date.
UBO registers around the world
The UK's PSC register is public and free. Most EU countries collect UBO data but restricted public access after a 2022 EU court ruling, so access now varies country by country and continues to change. The US collects beneficial-ownership information federally, but the database is not open to the public. Many offshore centres hold the data for authorities only.
Where the register is closed, beneficial ownership has to be assembled from what is public (shareholder filings, accounts notes, group structures), which is exactly what our guide to finding out who owns a company covers, and our registry directory records each country's disclosure position.
What a KYB check involves
Know your business (KYB) is the corporate counterpart of KYC: before dealing with a company, you verify the entity (it exists, is active, is who it claims to be), identify its UBOs, and screen the company and those people against sanctions, watchlists and politically-exposed-person lists, then keep the picture current. Regulated sectors (banking, payments, crypto, gambling and a widening list) must do this by law. Outside them, the same checks are simply good practice for significant counterparties, and they slot into the wider process in our supplier vetting guide.
UBO checks in practice
For a UK company, you can often do a basic UBO check yourself in minutes. For most of the world, you cannot: the register is closed, partial, or in a language you do not read. An investigated company report approaches it from the records that are available in-country, identifies owners and controlling parties as far as disclosure allows, and says clearly where the trail is not publicly verifiable.
Common questions
What is the difference between a UBO and a shareholder?
A shareholder is a legal owner and may be a company or a person; the UBO, as the term suggests, is the ultimate beneficial owner, the person at the very end of the ownership chain. A company can never be a UBO: the chain is followed until it reaches people.
Is there a public UBO register?
There is no global register, and national positions differ. The UK's PSC register is public and free; most EU registers now restrict access; the US database is not public. Our registry directory records the position country by country.
What does KYB stand for, and how does it differ from KYC?
KYB stands for know your business. It applies the same idea as KYC (know your customer) to corporate counterparties: instead of verifying an individual, you verify the company, identify the people who own and control it, and screen them.
When is a UBO check legally required?
Under anti-money-laundering rules, businesses in regulated sectors (banks, payment firms, crypto exchanges, gambling operators and others, with the list varying by country) must identify and verify UBOs before taking on a business customer. Outside regulated sectors there is usually no legal duty, but the same check is standard practice for significant suppliers, customers and partners.
Need the people behind a counterparty?
Our reports identify owners and controlling parties from official and in-country sources wherever disclosure allows, in 200+ countries, delivered in plain English.