Is the director the same as the UBO?

Not as a general rule. The director is treated as the beneficial owner only where, after reasonable measures, no natural person holding more than 25% or exercising control by other means can be identified (art. 8.b) RD 304/2014).

Confusing the director with the beneficial owner is among the most common mistakes. They are two distinct roles that may coincide but need not:

1. The director runs the company. That alone does not make them the beneficial owner.
2. They are the beneficial owner only if they additionally meet the ownership or control criterion under Art. 4.2.b — or if the fallback rule applies because no such person could be established.

The difference is not academic: in the first case you document a person who meets the threshold; in the second you document that you searched and found nobody. Those are two different file contents.

Legal basis: Real Decreto 304/2014, Art. 8.b); Ley 10/2010, Art. 4.2.b

Practical tip: In a Spanish SL set up specifically for the deal, the director is often a local adviser, not the buyer. Recording them as beneficial owner without checking would be convenient — and would put in the file precisely the person who isn't.