Notification of beneficial owners with the Trade Register

Most companies must file details of their actual beneficial owners (the persons who have ownership interest or control in the company) with the Finnish Trade Register and then keep the details in the register up to date.

For example, limited liability companies and co-operatives must file their beneficial owner details with the Finnish Trade Register. Private traders do not file a notification.

The notification of beneficial owners is free of charge.

In most cases, the beneficial owners of a company are its owners. The company must file a notification even if:

• the company has no beneficial owners or the company does not know them.
• the details of the board of directors, or other persons responsible for the company, are up-to-date.

Please note: It may become difficult for the company to carry out its operations if it does not file the beneficial owners’ details and keep the details up to date. The PRH may order your company into liquidation or remove it from the Trade Register if the company does not submit beneficial owner details or rectify incorrect details despite requests to do so.

This page includes the following information:‍

When do I file?

You must file a notification without delay in the following situations:

• The company has not filed its beneficial owner details with the Finnish Trade Register between 1 July 2019 and 1 July 2020.
• The beneficial owner details have changed.
• A new company has been registered, and you did not set up your company using the online filing service at ytj.fi.
• You are no longer a beneficial owner of the company.

Which companies file a notification?

Who is a beneficial owner?

How to file

File your notification online in Finnish or in Swedish.Open link in a new tab

How to check if the details on the beneficial owners of my company have been registered

The PRH sends a register extract about beneficial owners by post when the notification has been registered. The extract is sent to the address of the provider of further information under the notification or to the company’s address in the register.

You can also use our Virre Information Service to check free of charge if a notification of beneficial owners has been registered for the company or organisation. On the Virre start page, you can search by using Business ID. A notification of beneficial owners is indicated in the basic details of the company or organisation. Go to Virre Information Service. Open link in a new tab

How to access beneficial owner details

Unlike other details entered in the Finnish Trade Register, the details on beneficial owners are not public. However, the information about the registration of notifications is public. Read more: Information services and details of beneficial owners.

Why do I need to file a notification on beneficial owners?

It may become difficult for the company to carry out its operations if it does not file the beneficial owners’ details and keep the details up to date.

It is laid down in the Finnish Act on Money Laundering that, for example, banks, accounting firms and law firms are obligated to check the beneficial owner details of their customers. They must report to the PRH about any deficiencies or inconsistencies in the company’s beneficial owner details.

Please note: As of 2024, the PRH may order your company into liquidation or remove it from the Trade Register if the company does not submit beneficial owner details or rectify incorrect details despite requests to do so.

Various authorities and organisations are working closely together to prevent money laundering. The moneylaundering.fi website contains information on preventing money laundering. The website is jointly maintained by a number of different authorities. Go to the moneylaundering.fi website.Open link in a new tab

See the legislation for more information

The Finnish Act on Money Laundering and the underlying EU directives on money laundering require that companies and organisations

• identify their actual beneficial owners;

• file the beneficial owners’ details for registration; and
• keep the details up to date.

The objective of the Finnish Act on Money Laundering is to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, to help revealing and detecting such activities, and to enhance the tracking down and recovery of criminal benefit.

Provisions on filing and registering actual beneficial owners are laid down in the following acts:

• Actual beneficial owner is defined in chapter 1, sections 5–7 of the Finnish Act on Money Laundering.
• Provisions on registering the actual beneficial owners of companies are laid down in the Finnish Trade Register Act.
• Provisions on registering the executive committee members of associations are laid down in the Finnish Associations Act.
  
• Provisions on registering the members of the committee of directors in religious communities are laid down in the Finnish Freedom of Religion Act.
  
• Provisions on registering the members of the board of trustees and the supervisory board in foundations are laid down in the Finnish Foundations Act.

Read more in the reference database of Finnish legislation Finlex in Finnish or in Swedish.

• Act on Money Laundering (in Finnish)Open link in a new tab
  
• Act on Money Laundering (in Swedish)Open link in a new tab
  
• Trade Register Act (in Finnish)Open link in a new tab
  
• Trade Register Act (in Swedish)Open link in a new tab
  
• Foundations Act (in Finnish)Open link in a new tab
  
• Foundations Act (in Swedish)Open link in a new tab
  
• Associations Act (in Finnish)Open link in a new tab
  
• Associations Act (in Swedish)Open link in a new tab
  
• Freedom of Religion Act (in Finnish)Open link in a new tab
  
• Freedom of Religion Act (in Swedish).Open link in a new tab