Ask IQ who controls a company

Banks, auditors and regulators ask the same question in different words: who owns this company, who controls it, and what does it control in turn. The structure chart shows the answer as a picture. IQ gives it in words, with the percentages along the chain, and can set it beside the company's PSC register so a difference between the two shows up before someone else finds it.

Ask from the structure chart

1. Open the company and choose Relationships. See See your group structure.

2. Click Ask IQ in the top bar, and ask:

   Who controls Northwind Holdings Limited, and which companies does it control? Show the chain of ownership with percentages, and check it against the PSC register.

   

What IQ reads

• The ownership structure, the same one the chart draws. It is built from the cap tables: a holder owns shares in a company, and a holding of more than half the votes counts as control.
• The PSC register of the company: its entries and statements.
• Shareholdings and the cap table of any company along the chain, when you ask for the detail.
• A person's roles and holdings across the group, when the question is about one person; see See where a person sits in the group.

All of these are look-ups, so IQ answers without asking you to approve anything.

To ask about the past, give the date: "as at 31 March 2026". The structure can be rebuilt as it stood on a date, from the share ledger.

Check the answer

• Compare what IQ says with the chart on the same page. Both come from the same records, so a difference means the question was read differently; ask again more precisely.
• Where IQ finds that the PSC register and the shareholdings disagree, correct the record that is wrong yourself, or ask IQ to, approving the change. See Record a person with significant control.
• The structure counts control through shareholdings. Control through a voting agreement or a right to appoint the board does not show in it, so check those against the articles and agreements.

Tips from practice

• Ask for the answer as a numbered chain from the ultimate owner down. It pastes cleanly into a KYC response.
• For an FCA close links return, ask IQ to read the company's close links as well; see Review close links for the FCA.
• To draw the answer for a board paper, use the chart's own export rather than a description; see Export a structure chart.