Issue 003 · The Structure · United Arab Emirates, Seychelles
Who appears on which register: a UAE company held through a Seychelles IBC and a Mauritius foundation
A layered ownership chain, walked from the founder down, and what each layer now records about the people behind it.
Why each piece sits where it does
Foundation
The Mauritius foundation sits at the top and holds the shares. Its beneficial ownership register must record each beneficial owner's date of birth by 30 June 2027.
Holding company
The Seychelles IBC sits below the foundation. By 31 December 2026 its register of directors must show that the director is a nominee, and who nominated them, and it records beneficial owners at a 10 per cent threshold.
Operating company
The UAE company sits at the bottom and does the business. It keeps a register of real beneficiaries at a 25 per cent threshold, filed with its licensing authority under Cabinet Resolution No. 109 of 2023, and the founder appears on it as the person at the end of the chain who owns and controls it.
Where this goes wrongThe bank asks the UAE company who owns it. The registers answer at every level: the founder, as founder of the foundation, as nominator of the IBC's director and as real beneficiary of the UAE company. The nominee no longer stands in between. If confidentiality was the reason for the layers, that reason has gone. The cost and the banking questions have not.
Our readingLayers need a purpose of their own, such as succession or asset protection. Without one, a single holding company does the same job for less money and with fewer questions from the bank.
This piece appeared in Jurisdicta, Issue 003. General information only; not legal, tax or investment advice.