Transparency register
Transparenzregister
Other languages: Deutsch · Français · Español
Central register of the beneficial owners of companies and other legal entities.
In Germany, the transparency register has existed since 2017 and has been a full register since August 2021. General public access was restricted after a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in November 2022. In Switzerland, the non-public transparency register under the Federal Act on the Transparency of Legal Entities (TJPG) has been in operation since 1 October 2026.
In practice
For a family office with companies in several countries, each register has its own reporting duties, deadlines and fallback rules. In practice, the office keeps a list of all reportable entities with the register concerned, the last report and the next review date, and derives the reports from the same structure data it uses for the banks. Register extracts are filed with their date, so that discrepancies can be found and corrected before a bank or authority raises them.
Distinctions and common mistakes
A register entry does not replace the bank's own identification of the beneficial owner; obliged entities may not rely on the register alone. A common mistake is to update the shareholder structure in the commercial register but not in the transparency register – in Germany, banks and other obliged entities must then file a discrepancy report.
Relevant in: Germany · Switzerland · EU-wide
Related terms
- Beneficial owner
- The natural person who ultimately owns or controls a company, foundation or trust, or on whose behalf a transaction is carried out.
- WiEReG
- Austrian act on the register of beneficial owners kept by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
- Discrepancy report (Germany)
- Duty of obliged entities under the German Anti-Money Laundering Act to report discrepancies between their own findings and the transparency register (section 23a GwG).
Mentioned in these guides
- Swiss transparency register: reporting beneficial ownersIn operation since 1 October 2026: who must register in the Swiss transparency register, what is reported, who has access and how family offices proceed.
- Swiss Form K: controlling persons of operating companiesWho counts as the controlling person of an operating company, how the 25 per cent threshold and fallback rule work and when Swiss banks require Form K.
- Beneficial owners in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein comparedThresholds, control across several levels, fallback rules, foundations and trusts: how Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein determine UBOs.
- AG or GmbH for a Swiss family office?Company limited by shares (AG) or GmbH for a family office and holding: capital, disclosure, transferability, bodies and succession compared side by side.
- Foundation in Switzerland or Liechtenstein? The comparisonSwiss family foundation and Liechtenstein foundation compared: purposes, maintenance payments, supervision, bodies, confidentiality, tax and administration.