Beneficial Ownership Requirements for Business Accounts

Thank you for choosing Synovus to meet your business banking needs. The information below will help you understand the documentation you’ll need to bring to the branch to open your account.

When you open an account or make certain other changes to your account, all non-exempt business customers must provide us with certain identifying information due to a regulatory requirement established by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in 2018.

We’ve organized the information below to help you understand exactly what documents you’ll need to share with us. This information must be included on our Beneficial Owner Form, which may be downloaded from synovus.com/businessbankingbasics, and all of your business owners, partners, and/or key executives must be present at account opening.

By law, non-exempt business customers should provide information for all beneficial owners associated with your account when certain events occur, including:

  • Opening a new account
  • Changing ownership
  • Changing account signer
  • Modifying or extending a loan
  • Requesting a credit line increase

The definition of a beneficial owner, by law, includes the following two types of individuals associated with a legal entity:

  • Equity Owner — Each individual who owns 25% or more of the equity interests of a legal entity.
  • Control Person — A single individual who exercises significant responsibility to control, manage or direct the legal entity, such as an executive officer or senior manager.

All beneficial owners for all types of businesses or legal entities should bring the following when opening an account:

  • One original form of personal identification (issued by a government agency), such as a driver’s license or passport.
  • A Taxpayer Identification Number for both the business and individuals.
  • The physical address, phone number and date of birth for all individuals.

The following types of businesses will require additional documentation.

Sole Proprietor
If the state or county requires it, please bring your business license.

General Partnerships
Please bring your Partnership Agreement. If you don’t have a Partnership Agreement and you haven’t filed with a government agency, please bring a written statement signed by all partners indicating no written Partnership Agreement exists.

Limited Partnership/ Limited Liability Partnership
Please bring your Certificate of Limited Partnership.

Limited Liability Corporation
Please bring one of the following documents:

  • Articles of Organization
  • Certificate of Organization
  • Certificate of Formation

Corporation
Please bring your Articles of Incorporation.

Associations, Civic Groups, and Community Organizations
Please bring one of the following documents:

  • Business License
  • Fictitious Name Certificate or Statement
  • Certificate of Assumed Name
  • Organization/Association Articles of Bylaws
  • Certificate of Good Standing, Certificate of Formation, or Certificate of Organization
  • Statement of Organization
  • Certificate of Registration

If you don’t have one of the above and you haven’t filed with a government agency, please bring another document, such as board meeting minutes. If you don’t have documents issued by a government agency, all authorized signers must be present.

Doing Business As (DBA)
If your business is operating under a DBA, please bring one of the following:

  • Fictitious Name Certificate or Statement
  • Certificate of Assumed Name
  • Registration of Trade Name

Document names may vary in different states.


Exemptions to beneficial ownership requirements

Are there any exemptions?
Yes, some entities are exempt from this rule. Business customers that are exempt from this regulatory change to identification requirements include, but are not limited to, sole proprietorships, trusts (non-statutory), estates, and special entities, such as unincorporated associations or trade names that may not be required to be registered with the state.

Where can I find additional information?
FinCEN has a list of frequently asked questions on its website, fincen.gov.

If you have any questions or need more information, talk to your banker or call 888-SYNOVUS (888-796-6887).