Beneficial Ownership Verification for Onboarding
Verifying a company is only half the job; you must also confirm the real people behind it. We build the beneficial ownership verification that traces every entity customer to its ultimate owners.
Verification Does Not Stop at the Company
Once you have confirmed a business exists, the next step is confirming who truly owns it. Beneficial ownership verification identifies the individuals behind the entity and confirms them, so the customer you onboard is understood all the way down to the real people, not just the corporate shell on the paperwork.
Tracing Ownership Through Every Layer
Ownership is rarely simple. A company may be owned by another company, which is owned by a trust, spread across jurisdictions and designed to obscure. We trace ownership through each layer until we reach the individuals who ultimately own or control the business, and confirm their identity, so complexity and distance never hide who is really behind your customer.
Owner Identification
We identify the individuals who ultimately own or control your entity customer.
Structure Tracing
We trace layered and cross-border ownership through to the real people behind it.
Owner Verification
We confirm each beneficial owner's identity, not just collect a name on a form.
Ownership Refresh
We keep ownership current, updating it when the structure or control changes.
Ready to Simplify Your Compliance?
Businesses We Support With UBO
We build beneficial ownership verification for money services businesses, payment providers, cryptocurrency platforms, currency exchanges, real estate firms, and the many other reporting entities onboarding corporate customers under the PCMLTFA.
We support banks with program design, oversight, & regulatory examination readiness.
We help credit unions meet obligations proportionate to their membership and scale.
We handle registration, renewals, reporting, & controls FINTRAC expects from you.
We cover Bank of Canada registration alongside your anti money laundering obligations.
We establish what your wallet activity triggers, then build only what applies.
We build compliance around what your product does, before volumes and questions arrive.
We register virtual currency dealers and build the reporting their activity demands.
We support financial institutions across registration, program build, and reporting duties.
Why Businesses Choose Our Verification
Truly Traced
We follow ownership through every layer to the real individuals, so complex structures never hide who controls your customer.
Actually Verified
We confirm each owner’s identity with evidence, rather than trusting whatever a customer writes on an ownership declaration.
Onboarding Ready
We build ownership verification into your onboarding, so it flows straight from business verification rather than sitting apart.
Serving Businesses Across Canada
We deliver beneficial ownership verification right across the whole of Canada, from Toronto and Montreal to Vancouver and Calgary, and for foreign reporting entities carrying Canadian obligations wherever they operate.
Let's Talk About Your Compliance Needs
Schedule a Free Consultation
Whether you’re starting a new MSB or need ongoing AML support, our team responds within one business day.
Beneficial Ownership Questions
Clear answers to the questions Canadian businesses ask most about verifying the beneficial owners of their corporate customers during onboarding under the PCMLTFA.
Who counts as a beneficial owner?
Generally any individual who ultimately owns or controls twenty-five percent or more of an entity, directly or indirectly through other structures.
How do we verify beneficial owners?
By identifying the individuals behind the entity, tracing the ownership structure, and confirming their identity rather than simply recording a declared name.
What about complex ownership chains?
We trace ownership through layered and cross-border structures until we reach the real individuals who ultimately own or control the business.
Is collecting a declaration enough?
No. You must take reasonable measures to confirm the ownership information is accurate, not simply accept what the customer declares.
How does this relate to business verification?
Business verification confirms the entity. Beneficial ownership verification goes further, confirming the individuals who ultimately own or control that entity.