We play a role in the combating of money laundering

The PRH plays a special role in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

As a rule, the activities of companies involve a higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing because the persons behind companies’ operations do not act in their own name.

To reduce the risk, companies must enter the details of their beneficial owners in the Trade Register. The PRH has registered details of beneficial owners submitted by companies since July 2019.

According to the national risk assessment, the register of beneficial owners is a major instrument in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

Development of the register of beneficial owners now underway

We started the development of the register of beneficial owners in 2021. The aim is to create a comprehensive, up-to-date and high-quality register of beneficial owners that can be used by companies and public authorities as well as the obliged entities specified in the Act on Money Laundering.

The construction of a new service in which the details of beneficial owners can be entered in connection with the online start-up notifications of limited liability companies made progress during the year. The service is expected to be launched in 2022.

A process which sends an automated message to a company if no details of beneficial owners have been submitted was also under construction at the PRH.

Funding for the development of the register of beneficial owners comes from the Recovery and Resilience Facility of the EU (RRF).

We supervised the work of auditors and provided them with advice

Auditors play a key role in the identification of suspicious business activities and thus also in the combating of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The Act on Money Laundering imposes obligations on auditors, and compliance with them is supervised by the PRH. In 2021, we supervised the activities of auditors by carrying out ten inspections based on the Act on Money Laundering.

The task of the PRH is also to provide auditors with advice. We prepared the first comprehensive set of guidelines for auditors on the obligations laid down in the Act on Money Laundering.