# VSB 20 Art. 21 — Information to be documented - **Rubric (DE):** Zu dokumentierende Angaben - **Rubric (EN):** Information to be documented - **Chapter:** 3. Kapitel — Feststellung des wirtschaftlich Berechtigten an operativ tätigen juristischen Personen und Personengesellschaften (1. Abschnitt: Allgemeine Bestimmungen) - **Scope:** Banks & securities firms (incorporated via [[GwV-FINMA Art. 35 - Identification, controlling person and beneficial|GwV-FINMA Art. 35]]) - **Status:** In force (since 1 January 2020) ## Description The contracting party (*Vertragspartner*) must record the surname, first name and actual residential address of the controlling person (*Kontrollinhaber*) by written declaration or on *Formular K* (Abs. 1). The address is omitted where the controlling person comes from a country in which residential addresses are not used (Abs. 2). Exceptionally, the required information may also be supplied by simple copies of identification documents or of other documents issued by an authority under Art. 9 ff.; the Formular K or written declaration must then contain at least the controlling person's surname and first name or company name (Abs. 3). Formular K is in the annex; a bank may create its own form of equivalent content (Abs. 4). The declaration may also be obtained using a procedure under the FINMA provisions on video and online identification (Abs. 5). ## Context & interpretation The SBA commentary states that banks rely on the contracting party's declarations; further enquiries are required only if there are doubts about their correctness. The actual residential address must also be recorded for a managing person established as fallback (third step of the cascade). In multi-level structures only the controlling persons of the last company in the chain are documented (*Zurechnungsansatz*). If the contracting party names neither a controlling person of step 1 or 2 nor a managing person, further clarification duties under Art. 15 GwV-FINMA are triggered. ## FATF - [[FATF R.10 - Customer due diligence|FATF R.10]] — related: the particulars recorded about the controlling person of a legal-person customer (beneficial-owner identification). ## Swiss counterparts - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 57 - Controlling person – required information|GwV-FINMA Art. 57]] — parallel rule for GwV-FINMA Title 5 entities on the information to be recorded about the controlling person. - [[GwV-FINMA Art. 15 - Additional clarifications for higher risks|GwV-FINMA Art. 15]] — named in the SBA commentary as the source of further clarification duties where no controlling person or managing person is named. ## Related VSB articles - [[VSB 20 Art. 9 - Identification on face-to-face meeting|VSB 20 Art. 9]] — referred to in the article text ## Part of - [[VSB 20]] ## Further AMLR connections - [[AMLR Art. 22 - ID - verify customer + BO|AMLR Art. 22]] — VSB Art. 21 Abs. 1 requires a declaration of the controlling person's name and residence address; AMLR Art. 62(1)(a) particulars also include birth data, nationality and ID number. *(related)* ## Sources - VSB 20 (Vereinbarung vom 13. Juni 2018, in force 1.1.2020), Art. 21 - SBVg Kommentar zur VSB 20, Art. 21