Beneficial owners in foundations

A beneficial owner is a Norwegian or foreign person who meets one or more of these criteria:

• are board members
• is the general manager
• has the right to appoint more than half of the board members
• has contributed primary capital to the foundation
• has been given special rights in connection with the establishment of the foundation
• has been listed as recipient (individuals who are to receive distributions from the foundation)

Information about the board and the general manager is automatically retrieved from the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities. If there are changes to the board or the general manager, you only need to submit the Coordinated register notification.

When there is no organisation between the person and the organisation subject to registration, the person is a beneficial owner on a direct basis.

Example:

Organisations can also hold a position, not just individuals. Then it is the beneficial owners of that organisation, at the point in time when the organisation met the criterion in the foundation, that are the beneficial owners of the foundation.

Example:
Company A provided primary capital to the foundation in 2024. The individuals who were beneficial owners of Company A at the point in time in 2024 when the capital was provided are considered indirect beneficial owners of the foundation for the position “Has contributed primary capital to the foundation.”

Due to a temporary technical issue in the form, it is not possible to report an indirect basis. You must therefore register the person with their national identity number and position, without registering the basis.

Organisation required to register is owned by a foundation

If an organisation that is required to register is owned by a foundation, it must register information in the usual way. The organisation must follow the standard procedure for assessing and registering beneficial owners, since only the foundation itself is subject to different rules.

Most organisations find their beneficial owners in their own documents, such as the list of board members and the general manager, memorandum and articles of association. Generally speaking, the information here will be sufficient to identify the beneficial owners.

The board is responsible for keeping information about the beneficial owners of the organisation.

Information about the board and the general manager is retrieved directly from the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities or the Register of Business Enterprises. For other beneficial owners the foundation must submit:

• full name
• national identity number or d-number
  • If a beneficial owner does not have a national identity number or d-number, you must enter the date of birth
• country of residence
• all citizenships

For individuals with a national identity number or d-number, several personal details will be retrieved from the National Population Register. For these individuals, you only need to enter the national identity number/d-number and surname.

You must also state whether the person is a beneficial owner based on:

• the right to appoint more than half of the board members
• having provided primary capital to the foundation
• special rights given in connection with the establishment of the foundation
• being a recipient