The TEKSA database is based on the draft approved by the Ministry of Finance on 4 November 2021. The establishment of the TEKSA database is linked to the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing. The establishment of the database will ensure the systematic reporting and disclosure of data of beneficial owners and increase the transparency of the Estonian business environment.
The obligation to submit information on beneficial owners via the Commercial Register’s information system entered into force for companies back in October 2018, but there were no legal provisions on the basis of which the Registration Department could inform the person who failed to submit data of their obligation and demand the submission of data.
See guidelines for identification of a beneficial owners here.
What will change from 7 March 2022?
Financial institutions will be obliged to check on an ongoing basis the consistency of the beneficiaries submitted to the bank with the TEKSA database and, if a discrepancy is found, to ask companies to check which databases are not updated and to correct them. If a company fails to do so, banks are obliged to file a discrepancy report with the keeper of the database. Previously, banks were obliged to check compliance with the commercial register, but there was no obligation to report discrepancies.
In order to avoid any misunderstandings in companies, it is important to provide the bank with verified and accurate information and, if the information of the beneficiaries changes, both the Commercial Register and the bank must be informed as soon as possible!