Bearer shares and nominee shareholders

People search “nominee shareholder AML CDD” when a law firm sees a nominee on the register and wants to treat that name as the beneficial owner. Checked against AUSTRAC's ownership and control page on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. The share-chain page is beneficial owner of shares. The sector map is /tranche-2.

The name on the page is a step

Nominee shareholder AML CDD starts when the register and the real owner are different people. The nominee can be a service company or a person who holds shares for someone else. Customer due diligence does not end on that line. You ask who the nominee holds for, and you apply the ownership and control questions your program already uses.

Bearer shares are a related trap, not a local company habit. This page does not say a bearer share is valid for an Australian company. It says a story about a certificate, or a nominee deed, is not itself the beneficial owner you record.

• Do not stop at the nominee. Record who the nominee holds for. The person behind can be the one who owns or controls.
• Do not accept a certificate story. A claim that 'whoever holds the paper owns it' is a reason to ask more, not a reason to close the file.
• Keep control in the question. A person under the percentage can still matter if they control the customer. The definition page carries that test.
• Check individuals, not the label. A nominee firm is not a beneficial owner you file in place of the people. Each individual is a separate check.

What the register is hiding

Where the nominee page stops

This page is the nominee and bearer-share pause. It is not the definition of a beneficial owner. That test is on what is a beneficial owner?. This page does not trace a trust and it does not validate a foreign share class.

What the client pays

On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Use KYB when the customer is a company or a trust. Identifying a nominee arrangement is not included in the firm suite, and the nominee is not bundled into one company price. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not decide who the beneficial owner is behind a nominee or a bearer-share story.

Frequently Asked Questions