The role of nominees with a company is normally a largely ceremonial one. In the majority of cases the persons acting in the position will not actively engage in the business, making decisions, attending meeting and so on.
The role of a nominee will usually be restricted to having their name and details recorded and displayed at Companies House and to signing certain standard documents, such as bank account application forms and so on.
Nominees will rarely take part in negotiations for the company, be party to the daily running of the business meetings or otherwise play any other significant role.
Some UK company formation agents do currently offer a tiered structure to their nominee services whereby nominees will engage themselves in the business to varying degrees depending on which package is purchased.
Using Nominees in Private Arrangements
The term nominee services can extend to other arrangements which are distinct from the standard packages offered by company registration agents. They can also include other private arrangements between any two persons where one agrees to act as a named director, secretary or shareholder of a limited company.
Any such private arrangement may extend the scope of the traditional nominee’s role to those which are more akin to acting as the designated company officer. Private agreements may exist where the two parties are friends for example, or have some other close relationship with one another. Because of this, the nominee is willing to do more for the company as they perceive the risks of acting in such a capacity to the greatly reduced.
