🇫🇮 Business register in Finland

Overview

Finland benefits from a highly transparent company information system, centered on the PRH (Patentti- ja rekisterihallitus), the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, who maintains several registers about businesses, associations and foundations.

PRH make all information and documents available online, some being paid to access.

The country maintains a unified business information system (Yritys- ja yhteisötietojärjestelmä, YTJ) jointly operated by the PRH and the Finnish Tax Administration, allowing businesses to file notifications to both authorities through a single portal. Finland is known to take a proactive stance on data quality: companies that fail to file financial statements or beneficial owner details risk deregistration from the Trade Register.

Existence of a centralized authority makes Finland a relatively straightforward environment for KYB/AML, even though access to UBO information is restricted. Nevertheless, one could understandably be confused with the variety of sub-sources and APIs maintained by PRH, including YTJ, Virre, Financial statements, open data, and UBO.

Official registers

Finnish Trade Register (Kaupparekisteri)

Kaupparekisteri is the core legal register for businesses (limited companies, partnerships, co-ops, branches, housing companies, etc.), maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH).

Entries and filed enclosures are public. The Register covers a large scope of information about buiness, including name, address, registration number and business id, legal form, status, financial mortgages, legal representatives, capital and shareholders...

PRH provides direct online access, as well as API services that require a "contract account" with a one-off access fee. PRH offers an array of different services with significant overlap as regards data provided:

• Virre - focusing on company data & documents
• Open data - in line with European regulations on high-value datasets
• YTJ, a service co-run with the Finnish tax administration that provides identification and information about most legal entities
• Financial statements API (requires a different contract than Virre API)
• UBO information (see below)

Some of the trade register information is free to access, such as basic company data, and downloading the official Trade Register extract. Other items are paid, notably data on legal representatives and financial statements PDFs.

Register of Associations (Yhdistysrekisteri)

The Register of Associations is a separate register maintained by the PRH for non-profit associations (rekisteröity yhdistys, ry). Finland has over 100,000 registered associations covering everything from sports clubs to professional bodies.

Registration gives an association legal personality, enabling it to own property, enter contracts, and limit members' personal liability. The register is publicly accessible through a dedicated information service at yhdistysrekisteri.prh.fi, where basic details and extracts are available.

Register of Foundations (Säätiörekisteri)

Foundations (säätiö) are registered separately with the PRH and subject to oversight by the Foundation Register. They must file annual reports and financial statements, which are publicly available.

Beneficial Owner Information

Finland does not maintain a separate beneficial owner register. Instead, beneficial owner details (tosiasiallinen edunsaaja) are filed with the Trade Register as part of each company's registration data. All limited liability companies and cooperatives are required to report their beneficial owners—natural persons who own more than 25% of the company directly or indirectly, hold more than 25% of voting rights, or otherwise exercise control.

Unlike standard company details, beneficial owner information is not publicly accessible. Access is restricted to entities with a legitimate interest under the Finnish Act on Money Laundering (Laki rahanpesun ja terrorismin rahoittamisen estämisestä). Obliged entities such as banks, law firms, and auditors can request beneficial owner extracts, but must demonstrate a compliant purpose of use.

Registration and publication requirements

Limited liability companies (Osakeyhtiö)

Limited liability companies must register with the Trade Register before commencing operations. Since 2019, no minimum share capital is required for private limited companies. All limited companies must file annual financial statements with the Trade Register within four months of the end of the financial year. Financial statements are public and available through the Virre Information Service.

Companies that fail to file financial statements risk receiving a penalty notice and, ultimately, deregistration from the Trade Register. The PRH has actively enforced this requirement, removing several thousand non-compliant companies in recent years.

Sole traders (Yksityinen elinkeinonharjoittaja)

Registration as a sole trader is straightforward and can be done through the YTJ portal. Trade Register registration is only mandatory for sole traders who are required by the Accounting Act to file financial statements, or who reside outside the European Economic Area. Most sole traders register voluntarily to obtain a Business ID and access to the prepayment tax register.

Associations (Yhdistys)

An association requires at least three founders and must submit a charter and rules for registration. Once registered, it gains legal personality and the abbreviation "ry" (or "rf" in Swedish) is added to its name. Registered associations must file details of their board members with the Register of Associations, which are publicly available.

Foundations (Säätiö)

Foundations must register with the PRH and are subject to ongoing supervision. They are required to file annual financial statements and reports, which are publicly available.

With Topograph

Topograph integrates with Finnish registers, consolidating data from PRH and YTJ and enabling real-time KYB coverage and automated compliance workflows. Topograph company information is available through an API and a web app.

Available data

Company profile

• Legal name and parallel names
• Registered office address
• Business ID (Y-tunnus) and EUID
• Legal form
• Date of registration
• Registration status
• Share capital (where applicable)
• Line of business (TOL classification)

Legal representatives

• Names of board members and managing director
• Roles and powers

Authorised signatories

Available documents

🔍 Want to streamline your KYB workflows in Finland?
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