Register of significant beneficial owners

Section 90 and the Significant Beneficial Owners Rules require the company to keep a register of significant beneficial owners in Form BEN-3, from the declarations it receives in BEN-1.

What goes in it

• The significant beneficial owner's particulars
• Nature of the holding or control
• Date of the declaration and of any change

Mistakes that come up

• A declaration received in BEN-1 but no entry made, or no BEN-2 filed

Keeping it electronically

Section 120 allows records to be kept in electronic form in the manner the rules prescribe. Rule 27(1) of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014 speaks of listed companies and companies with 1,000 or more shareholders, debenture holders and other security holders; for a smaller company, whether Keel holds the register itself or a sealed copy kept beside it is for the company and its company secretary to decide. Rule 28 sets the conditions for electronic records, among them protection against unauthorised alteration, a dated backup at least once a day, records that can be reproduced in readable form, and systems that can "discern invalid and altered records" (rule 28(2)(e)); under it the board names who is responsible, where backups are kept and who has access.

How it is kept on Keel

Keel does not hold this register yet. Keel holds the register of members, the register of directors and key managerial personnel, the register of charges, the register of loans, guarantees, security and acquisitions (MBP-2), the register of contracts with related parties (MBP-4) and the board minutes. Until this one is added, your firm keeps it as it does now.