On 19 September 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine jointly with the National Bank of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 1011 “On the Introduction of Methodology for the Determination by a Legal Entity of its Ultimate Beneficial Owners” (Methodology). This move was largely influenced by the International Monetary Fund’s prerequisites under the four-year Extended Fund Facility Program for the extension of USD11.6 billion to Ukraine. A key condition of this financial support was the harmonisation of Ukrainian legislative processes for identifying ultimate beneficial ownership with the FATF standards, which were published by FATF in March 2023.
In this connection, the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance has noted that the newly adopted Methodology is a groundbreaking normative legal document, unparalleled in the global arena. This reflects Ukraine’s commitment to elevating its financial regulatory framework to FATF recommended standards.
The Methodology is established to institute a uniform approach for the determination of the ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) of a privately owned Ukrainian legal entity. Pursuant to the Methodology, the determination by a legal entity of its UBOs or the establishment of the fact of their absence encompasses several stages. These stages involve the investigation of signs, nature and extent of decisive influence (both direct and indirect) on the activities of the legal entity, the investigation of information about founders and other persons who exercise decisive influence over the legal entity, the systematisation and analysis of information about the UBO as well as the monitoring and updating of relevant information.
Here we provide a summary of the essential investigative stages and the corresponding methods as prescribed by the Methodology.