Adds proof of ultimate beneficial ownership as a document type

What’s new

You can now use the proof_of_ultimate_beneficial_ownership document type on the Accounts API to upload documentation that identifies ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs) of a business. This helps fulfill Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.

Ultimate beneficial owners are persons that, directly or indirectly, own a significant share or exercise significant control over your business. These persons are usually represented as owners, directors, or executives on a Stripe account.

To satisfy UBO requirements, Stripe is required to identify, collect, and verify all owners that have a significant ownership stake or control in the business (for most businesses, this is defined as having 25% or more ownership). When businesses are owned by other businesses (holding companies) that have significant ownership, Stripe is required to identify, collect, and verify all significant owners of each holding company.

The proof of ultimate beneficial ownership document type isn’t supported in all countries. Accounts that can use this document type receive the proof_of_ultimate_beneficial_ownership requirement in their requirements field. If the account supports providing a document for ultimate beneficial ownership, you can validate the relationship by choosing one document from the list of Acceptable verification documents by country.

After uploading a file, you can attach it to an account:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/accounts/
{{CONNECTED_ACCOUNT_ID}} \
  -u "
sk_test_BQokikJOvBiI2HlWgH4olfQ2
:" \
  -d "documents[proof_of_ultimate_beneficial_ownership][files][]"=file_5dtoJkOhAxrMWb

Impact

If your business has a complex ownership structure or involves foreign holding companies, the existing KYC fields might not sufficiently capture your company’s UBO declaration. The proof_of_ultimate_beneficial_ownership document provides flexibility by providing an alternative method to comply with KYC requirements.

Some accounts might see a new proof of ultimate beneficial ownership requirement as part of the Upcoming requirement updates.

Changes

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