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UBO API

A UBO API resolves the ultimate beneficial owners of a company: the individuals who ultimately own or control it, even when ownership runs through layers of holding companies. The Know Your Customer Limited UBO API returns ownership as a recursive, multi-level org-chart built from live registry data across 147 jurisdictions, so you can walk the tree from a corporate parent down to the individual owners at the leaves, and verify each one in the same flow.

What is a UBO API?

A UBO API is an interface that programmatically discovers and returns a company’s ultimate beneficial owners. A UBO (ultimate beneficial owner) is the natural person who ultimately owns or controls a company, typically defined by regulators such as the 25% ownership threshold in the EU Anti-Money-Laundering Directives and the FATF recommendations. Companies are rarely owned by a single person directly, so identifying the UBO usually means tracing ownership through one or more intermediate companies.

A good UBO API does not just return a flat list of owners. It returns the structure: who owns whom, across levels, so you can see how control flows from individuals down through holding companies to the operating entity.

How does the Know Your Customer UBO API represent ownership?

The API resolves a company’s controlling parties and exposes them two ways:

  • controllingEntitiesAndIndividuals: a flat list of the parties who control the company. Use it when you want the set of controllers without the hierarchy.
  • A recursive org-chart: a root company node with nested shareholders. A shareholder can itself be a company, owned in turn by other companies or individuals. Use it when you need the structure across levels.

Each node carries a memberType of "Company" or "Individual". To find the ultimate beneficial owners, you walk the tree: for each node, if memberType is "Company", descend into its shareholders; if it is "Individual", you have reached a leaf owner. This is how the API represents multi-level beneficial ownership, with corporate parents above other corporates and individuals (the UBOs) at the leaves.

Why does recursive, multi-level UBO matter?

Recursive org-charts are the differentiator. Many ownership APIs return a flat list of shareholders and stop at the first layer, which hides control that sits behind a holding company. A recursive org-chart traces ownership through every layer until it reaches natural persons, so you see the real controllers, not just the registered shareholders of record. Ownership built from live registry data is also more defensible than ownership inferred from aggregated datasets, because it reflects what the official register actually holds.

How do I get UBO data via the API?

When you create a company case (POST /v2/Companies), the API pulls the registry record, discovers the owners, and builds the ownership tree as part of the asynchronous build. Once the case reaches status 3 (Ready), read the case with GET /v2/Companies/{caseCommonId} and walk the org-chart:

Code
1. Read the root company node.
2. For each shareholder, check memberType.
3. If "Company", recurse into its shareholders.
4. If "Individual", record the UBO at the leaf.

Each individual member has its own caseCommonId. You can address that person as a case in its own right at /v2/Individuals/{caseCommonId}, for example to collect and verify their identity documents.

How do I verify the individual UBOs I find?

Identity verification (KYC) on the UBOs and directors you discover is included as a complementary add-in. Take an individual member’s caseCommonId, address them at /v2/Individuals/{caseCommonId}, and collect their identity documents (photoid, selfie, poa) with prevalidation. AML screening on each party (sanctions, PEP, adverse media) is built into the case. This means UBO discovery, identity verification, and screening of the people behind a business happen in one connected flow rather than across three vendors.

Do minority shareholders need full verification?

Not always. Minority shareholders below your configured shareholding threshold are represented by deactivated steps (isDeactivated = true). They have still been screened against AML and sanctions lists and are clear; they simply qualify for simplified due diligence. Where you do need full verification of a deactivated party, you activate that step by its caseStepId and complete verification as normal. This keeps each case focused on the parties that matter while preserving an audit trail.

Which jurisdictions have beneficial-ownership data?

Beneficial-ownership availability varies by jurisdiction, because not every country maintains a public UBO register. The API resolves ownership wherever the official registry data supports it across its 147 connected jurisdictions, with deep APAC coverage and global breadth. Where a public UBO register exists, the API draws on it; where ownership must be traced through shareholding records, the recursive org-chart does the tracing. See the coverage hub for per-jurisdiction detail.

Frequently asked questions

What is a UBO? A UBO, or ultimate beneficial owner, is the natural person who ultimately owns or controls a company, often defined by a 25% ownership or control threshold under EU AML Directives and FATF guidance.

Does the API return recursive (multi-level) ownership? Yes. Ownership is returned as a recursive org-chart of nested shareholders, traced through holding companies down to individual owners.

Is UBO data live or inferred? It is built from live registry data at verification time, not inferred from a static aggregated dataset.

Can I verify the UBOs as well as discover them? Yes. Each individual has a caseCommonId you can address to run KYC and AML on that person.

How is a UBO different from a director? A director manages the company; a UBO ultimately owns or controls it. The two can be the same person or different people.