The registered owner of shares held for the benefit of another person (the beneficial owner). The beneficial owner may choose to appoint a nominee because it does not wish to have the shares registered in its own name, or it may be required to appoint a nominee. A nominee shareholder may be an individual or a body corporate. Brokers adopt the practice of creating a company to act as a nominee shareholder to ease the administration of buying and selling holdings on behalf of their clients.

For further guidance, see Practice note, Membership of a company.