AMSF • Practical Guide "Beneficial Ownership and complex structures" (June 2025)

On 11 June 2025, the Monegasque Financial Security Authority (AMSF) published its Practical Guide #5 - Beneficial Ownership and complex structures in the fight against money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and corruption (AML/CFT-P/C), up to date with the legal and regulatory obligations in force at that date.

Divided into 6 parts, the Guide provides detailed guidance on the interpretation and implementation of the obligations to identify beneficial owners (BO) (defined in article 21 of Law no. 1.362) and to analyse complex ownership structures (structures with "3 or more layers of ownership between the Account Holder and the
BO", or "that are less than 3 layers of ownership but that are difficult to verify the BO due to obscurity or obfuscation"):

• Part 1 - Identification of BO by type of entity (type of legal person or legal structure).
• Part 2 - Main requirements and obligations of professionals subject to Law no. 1. 362 (understanding the client's ownership structure; identifying the legal entity; verifying the information relating to the legal entity; identifying the BO; verifying the identity of the BO; filtering for targeted financial sanctions (TFS); updating data relating to the ownership structure and BOs ; documenting internal AML/CFT-P policies and procedures; retain information on ownership structure and BOs for at least 5 years from the date of the transaction or the end of the business relationship; Obligation to report suspicions for new or existing business relationships).
• Part 3 - Red flags (e.g. Inexplicably intricate structures; Frequent transfers of shares between same or related parties; Inexplicably intricate structures; Inability to establish relationship between the BO and authorised signatory of the company; evidence of use of a mailbox service; etc.).
  
• Part 4 - Examples of B0 per type of legal entity (Associations or federations of associations, Foundations, Funds, Cooperatives, Government bodies, Government linked enterprise, Economic interest groups (GIEs), Limited Liability Partnerships (SARLs), Limited partnerships (SCSs) or Commercial partnerships (SNCs) or Limited partnership with shares (SCAs) or Civil-law partnerships (SCIs and SCPs), Monegasque joint-stock companies (SAMs), Publicly listed Companies, Sole traders, Special Purpose Vehicle, Trusts, Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs)) and types of document enabling identification and verification (non-exhaustive list).
• Part 5 - Reminder of law (legislative and regulatory texts) and sanctions provisions (under the authority of the department responsible for sanctions within the AMSF, with a presentation of the two distinct procedures: material, one-off and isolated breaches; breaches of the system as a whole observed, in particular, during on-site inspections carried out by the AMSF).
• Part 6 - Other relevant documents (FATF, IMF).

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Related sources:

• AMSF Practical Guide on Beneficial Ownership and complex structures (June 2025) - https://amsf.mc/actualites/ben...
• FATF Guidance on Beneficial Ownership and Transparency of Legal Arrangements (March 2024) - https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/p...
• FATF Guidance on Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons (March 2023) - https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/p...

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