Development of the beneficial owner information service
Since July 2019, companies have been obliged to file a notification of their beneficial owners with the Finnish Trade Register. A beneficial owner is a person who exercises the power of ownership or control over a company. Such a person owns more than 25% of the company’s shares or holds more than 25% of the voting rights in the company, whether directly or indirectly through another company.
The project to develop a beneficial owner information service responds to the increasing and varying needs for information on beneficial owners at the national and EU levels.
EU financing is used to implement the project.
Goals and schedule
The project aims to create a centralised service to provide the beneficial owner information stored in the Finnish Trade Register and other corporation registers. The service will be maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH).
The main users of the new information service will be national authorities and the obliged entities referred to in the Finnish Act on Money Laundering, such as banks, auditors, and attorneys-at-law.
Through the EU’s Beneficial Ownership Registers’ Interconnection System (BORIS), equivalent operators in other member states must also have access to beneficial owner details. Therefore, the project also aims to create a well-functioning connection between Finland’s beneficial owner information and the BORIS maintained by the EU.
The project schedule is divided into four phases:
- The first phase was completed in late 2023.
- The second phase will be completed in late 2024.
- The third phase will be completed in late 2025.
- The fourth and final phase will be completed in early 2026.
However, development will continue beyond the project’s estimated completion date because legislative changes concerning the register’s data content are already on the horizon.
Further information
For further information, please contact
Vesa Härmälä, Project Manager
Tel. +358 29 509 5126
firstname.lastname@prh.fi
