Deficiencies in a company’s beneficial owner details on the Finnish Trade Register
These instructions apply to companies whose beneficial owner details are the subject of a discrepancy report filed with the PRH because of deficiencies or inconsistencies in the beneficial owner details.
What is a discrepancy report?
Banks, accounting firms or other parties subject to the reporting obligation, as referred to in the Finnish Act on Money Laundering, file a discrepancy report with the PRH if the details they have received differ from the company’s beneficial owner details on the Finnish Trade Register.
Example 1: The share of ownership of an actual beneficial owner is X% on the Trade Register, but according to a bank the share is Y%.
Example 2: Person A has been registered as the actual beneficial owner on the Trade Register. According to an auditor, person B should be registered as the beneficial owner instead.
The PRH asks the company to check the details
We send a letter to the company named in the discrepancy report and ask the company to confirm the details on the Trade Register or to correct the deficiencies.
We also enclose the discrepancy report filed by a party subject to the reporting obligation (such as a bank). We send the letter to the company’s postal address recorded in the Finnish Business Information System at ytj.fi, or to a person responsible for the company.
Proceed as follows if you receive a letter from the PRH to check beneficial owner details
If you receive a letter from us, use the online service at ytj.fi to check the company's actual beneficial owner details. The service is available in Finnish and Swedish.
A member of the board of directors, the managing director, a general partner, or a representative who is authorised to file notifications with the Trade Register can check the company's details and sign the notification.
Check the details as follows:
- Log in to the online service at ytj.fi.Open link in a new tab You need to have a Finnish personal identity code and either personal internet banking codes, a mobile certificate, or an electronic identity card (HST card).
- Select “
Tosiasialliset edunsaajat (omistajat) ” or “Verkliga förmånstagare (ägare) ” to start filing beneficial owner details. The service will direct you to check the details. - Check the persons, shares of ownership, and shares of voting rights. In most cases, the beneficial owners of a company are its owners. Read more: Who is a beneficial owner?
- File changes or confirm that the details are correct and indicate that they have been checked. Read further instructions for filing changes.
- Accept, sign, and send your notification. Filing is free of charge.
We will send the company a beneficial owner extract as soon as we have registered the details.
What are the consequences if the company does not take action by the deadline?
If the company does not make changes to the registered details or confirm that they have been checked by the deadline, we will make an entry in the Trade Register stating that, according to a discrepancy report, there are deficiencies or inconsistencies in the beneficial owner details of the company.
We will send the company a decision about the entry and a separate beneficial owner extract with the following entry:
The Finnish Patent and Registration Office has received a report about deficiencies or inconsistencies in the beneficial owner details of the company or organisation, as referred to in chapter 6, section 5 of the Finnish Act on Money Laundering.
This register entry may make it more difficult for the company to do business with entities such as financial institutions. From 2024, companies can be ordered into liquidation or deregistered from the Trade Register because of deficient and incorrect beneficial owner details.
The entry is not included in the Trade Register extract – it is included in the company’s beneficial owner extract. See who is entitled to access actual beneficial owner details about companies.
What should I do if my company has such an entry on the register?
We will remove the entry as soon as the company files changes or confirms that the beneficial owner details on the Trade Register are correct. See “Proceed as follows if you receive a letter from the PRH to check beneficial owner details” above.
See the legislation for more information
The register entry is based on the following statutes: