By way of a reminder, the National Registry Office “Final Beneficiary Registry” system is now live and the process of registering what is known as the Final Beneficiary of a corporation in Nicaragua (Usually referred to as an S.A.) is now available.
The National Directorate of Registries of the Supreme Court of Justice, through Circular No. 008-2021, announced that as of Monday, April 19th 2021, the implementation of the Registry of the Final Beneficiary of Mercantile Societies (RBFSM) has started to accept registrations.
Registrations (and updates) are being processed in alphabetical order, based on the initial letter of the name and/or company name as follows; Letters A to H, from April 19th 2021 to October 18th, 2021 and letters I to Z, from October 19th, 2021 to April 18th, 2022.
Article 155 of Ley 698 – Ley General de los Registros Públicos (Law 698 General Law of Public Registries) was amended by Law 1035 which established an obligation and requirement for corporations to update basic information and the “final beneficiary” of commercial companies. There are administrative sanctions for failing to comply.
Why the Changes and who is a Final Beneficiary?
The reasons for the amendment to the law come from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. They set down requirements for countries to take measures to prevent the corporate registration process being used for illegal means such as money laundering or terrorist financing. FATF requires sufficient information to be able to make a determination as to who really controls the legal entity in question.
The Financial Beneficiary could be as simple as the person(s) who have registered the corporation. However, the more complicated the ownership structure or where there is a chain of ownership, the more difficult it is to establish who is in control and who is benefitting, hence the requirement to self-report the details.
Legal Advice
This is one where you should be making sure your lawyer is on top of these changes so please contact them if you haven’t already given them instructions as to who is the final beneficiary of your corporation.
NOTE: Some Ex-Pats have their Nicaraguan property registered to a Nicaraguan S.A. (a Corporation).
Other Information
Regulations also require companies to update their basic information and the “Final Beneficiary” every 12 months by a matter of course and also when there have been any changes in the articles of incorporation of the company that would affect the information that determines the identity of the Final Beneficiary.
The National Registry Office (DNR by its acronym in Spanish) has a monitoring team that is able to deal with inquiries from users of the technical and legal aspect of the system. Business days and hours from Monday to Friday from 08:00 am to 04:00 pm, by telephone: 22981638 Ext. 7256 and 7225 and by Email: beneficiariofinal@registropublico.gob.ni.
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