Overview

The UBO Investigation use case helps organizations identify and understand the Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) behind a company.

Rather than simply retrieving shareholder data, the investigation analyzes ownership structures, resolves ownership chains, and classifies findings to support compliance and due diligence processes.

The result is a clearer understanding of who ultimately owns or controls an organization and a stronger foundation for KYC and AML processes.

Business Challenge

Determining the Ultimate Beneficial Owner of an organization is often complex.

Challenges include:

• Multi-layer ownership structures
• Corporate shareholders
• Indirect ownership
• Cross-border ownership chains
• Incomplete or unclear ownership information

Manually investigating ownership structures is time-consuming and difficult to scale.

Organizations need a reliable and auditable way to determine ownership and control.

Typical Customers

This use case is commonly used by:

• Banks and financial institutions
• FinTech companies
• Trust offices
• Legal firms
• Accountancy firms
• Corporate compliance teams
• KYC platforms

Typical Flow

Select organization
↓
Start UBO investigation
↓
Resolve ownership structure
↓
Review ownership classifications
↓
Retrieve supporting evidence
↓
Assess compliance risk

Recommended APIs

UBO Investigation API

Perform ownership investigations and determine Ultimate Beneficial Owners.

The investigation identifies:

• UBOs
• UBO Suspects
• UBO Gateways

Official Documents API

Retrieve supporting source documents and extracts used during the investigation.

NL Organizations API

Retrieve company profile information related to investigated entities.

Monitoring API

Monitor investigated entities for ownership and management changes.

Business Value

Reduce Manual Investigation Work

Automate complex ownership analysis and reduce research effort.

Improve Compliance

Support KYC, AML, and regulatory requirements with structured ownership information.

Better Risk Insights

Understand who ultimately owns or controls an organization.

Auditability

Support investigations with source evidence and official documentation.

Scale Due Diligence Processes

Perform ownership investigations consistently across large customer portfolios.

Example Scenarios

Customer Due Diligence

Determine the UBOs of a prospective customer before establishing a business relationship.

Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD)

Investigate complex ownership structures for higher-risk customers.

Periodic Ownership Reviews

Re-assess ownership structures as part of ongoing compliance processes.

Embedded Compliance Platforms

Integrate UBO investigations directly into onboarding and compliance workflows.

Related Use Cases

• KYC & AML Compliance
• Continuous Monitoring
• Supplier & Third-Party Risk
• Customer Onboarding & Enrichment