Nominee Shareholder, Director, And Secretary: What Are They For?

Shareholder:
The owners of a limited company are called Shareholders and their names and addresses are published on Companies House records, where they can be searched by tax authorities, credit checking services, competitors and the general public.
When appointing a Nominee Shareholder, the owner (now referred to as the beneficial owner) to hold the shares for him, the rights of the beneficial owner are protected by a Declaration of Trust (sometimes referred to as a Deed of trust).
The declaration of trust guarantees the beneficial owner retains full control over the shares. A typical declaration of trust might read thus:
We Yourbooks Ltd
Hereby declare and acknowledge that we hold our interest in the share capital of company name (the company) registered in our name as well as any additional share capital in the company that may be allotted or transferred to us upon trust for client name absolutely.
We have handed to client name a share transfer form executed by us in blank in respect of the above holding. client name is at liberty at any time to complete and deliver the said share transfer form in favour of and to such entities as client name may wish.
We undertake to pay client name all dividends, bonuses and any and all other payments received by us in respect of the above shareholding and to vote in respect thereof at all meetings of the company and to exercise all other rights in connection therewith as client name may from time to time direct.
Only the nominee's details will be shown on the public records, the name of the beneficial owner is kept confidential.
Nominees are often appointed for offshore or international business companies (IBCs) especially if the beneficial owner resides in a high tax country.
Director:
A nominee director is a person who regulates the company on the legitimate instructions of the beneficial owner. The fundamental duty of the nominee director is to protect working executives of limited and other companies from the public disclosure requirements in the relevant jurisdictions.
It is a completely legal device which maintains the privacy of an individual.
Anyone doing a company search on a company with a nominee director would fail to find in whose name the nominee director was registered. It is designed to assist a person who would rather not make public their interest or association with a given corporate body.
The nominee director cannot and will not associate with any business contract or financial or moral commitment.
Secretary
A nominee secretary is nearly always used if the company is an offshore company. this is because a company secretary makes sure that the company complies with requirements to file official returns and submissions to the Companies House in an accurate timely way so the company retains good standing in the country of establishment.
The company secretary will prepare other documents considering alterations to the company structure as and when they happen, such as; changes to allotment of shares; transfer of shares and appointments and resignations of directors.