What happens during an company 'unwrap' when a corporate shareholder turns out to be a trust?
The platform reads ASIC, flags shareholders held non-beneficially as likely trustees, pauses the unwrap, and prompts for the trust deed.
easyAML reads ASIC data during the KYB unwrap and flags any shareholder where ASIC records show "beneficially held = false" - meaning the named shareholder is holding the shares on behalf of someone else, typically as a trustee. This is a strong signal that there's a trust sitting behind the shareholding.
What happens next:
- The platform pauses the unwrap at that shareholder and asks for documentation.
- The user uploads the trust deed and uses the automatic trust read to determine the trustees, appointor and beneficiaries (or beneficiary classes). Each unwrapped trust layer is a separate KYB ($35 + GST on Professional).
- KYC links then need to be sent to each individual identified as a controlling person or adult named beneficiary.
The process is manual because trust details aren't externally registered with ASIC or any other public register - the deed itself is the only authoritative source. Our AI trust-deed reader simplifies the process and will pre-fill trustees, appointor and beneficiaries from the uploaded deed (the user reviews and confirms).
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- Does AUSTRAC require settlors to be identified and KYC as part of a trust CDD?
- When the customer is a trust, do beneficiaries need to be identified and verified? How does this differ by trust type?
- A KYB failed to identify known UBOs. What's the workaround?
- Can a platform user override the UBOs identified by KYB unwrapping?