A nominee owner of an asset is a person who allows their name to be used for the purposes of recording legal ownership of the asset in question but who at the same time enters into an agreement with the beneficial owner of the asset to confirm that they will always act following the instructions of that beneficial owner with regard to the exercise of the rights derived from their legal ownership of that asset. They also agree that they will at any time surrender that ownership to another person upon direction of the beneficial owner.
It is commonplace for nominee owners to pre-sign documentation authorising the transfer of legal ownership of the asset which the beneficial owner may use to effect that change at any time of their choosing.
The nominee is usually paid a fee for their services but otherwise has no interest in the transactions that relate to assets which they publicly or legally profess to own.
Nominee owners are commonly used in secrecy jurisdictions when ownership of an asset has to be recorded on public registers and the beneficial ownerships wish to disguise their identity. This may now be illegal in some locations but it is still thought to be commonplace.
Nominee owners are not trustees as they have no discretion available to them with regard to the exercise of their duties: they are mere agents of the beneficial owners.
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