What is a beneficial shareholder?

Beneficial shareholders are those who benefit from the shares, even though the title is in another entity’s name.

In our online application the question is phrased thus:

‘Will these shares be held on behalf of another trust, individual or organisation?’

In most cases, shareholders will answer ‘no’ to this question as they will be receiving the benefit of the shares themselves.

If the entity is actually a trustee and holding the shares on behalf of a trust, then please answer ‘yes’ to this question and enter the name of the trust into the text box that appears. In this way the trust will essentially be a shareholder, with the trustee holding the shares in that capacity on behalf of the trust.

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Updated — Jun 4, 2018