New requirements on the identification of the beneficial owners of Luxembourg SICARs

The Luxembourg regulatory authority (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier or CSSF), as competent authority to exercise the supervision within the meaning of article 11(1) of the Law of 15 June 2004 relating to the investment companies in risk capital, as amended or supplemented from time to time (the “SICAR Law”), requires all Luxembourg SICARs to transmit to the CSSF the identity of their beneficial owners in compliance with article 32 of the SICAR Law and for the first time in the half-yearly reporting as at 31 December 2009.
Such information on the identity of the beneficial owners is required for (i) the authorisation of the SICAR and (ii) in the context of half-yearly reporting.
In its Newsletter of October 2009 (available on the website of the CSSF, www.cssf.lu), the CSSF has confirmed that an updated table K 3.1 will be published on its website and has also specified the concept of “beneficial owner” as follows:
–      Application of the definition of beneficial owner as provided in Article 1(7) of the law of 12 November 2004 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, as amended (the “2004 Law”).
–      Application of the concept of beneficial owner to any natural person who owns or controls directly or indirectly a percentage of more than 25% of the SICAR’s shares as well as any natural person who otherwise exercises control over the management of the SICAR.
–      Identification of beneficial owners required where the investors of the SICAR are legal persons other than the entities referred to under Article 3-1 of the 2004 Law allowing the application of simplified customer due diligence procedures. The information on beneficial owners must be provided independently from the setting-up of a nominee structure.