LBR ¦ Luxembourg Strengthens Corporate Registers to Fight Financial Crime and Improve Data Quality

LBR’s reform raises the bar for register reliability and compliance

Luxembourg Business Registers (LBR), under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice, has presented a phased reform to strengthen monitoring, verification and compliance of data in the Trade and Companies Register (RCS) and the Register of Beneficial Owners (RBE). The plan, announced at a press conference on 28 January 2026, is designed to make the registers more accurate, complete and timely so they can be relied upon by public authorities, financial institutions and other economic actors for risk assessment, compliance checks and decision-making.

From prevention to sanctions – a graduated compliance pathway

LBR’s approach is explicitly graduated and prioritizes prevention, guidance and support. Initial measures will focus on notifications, targeted communications and easier guidance for depositors so that companies and associations can correct shortcomings voluntarily. Where organizations fail to remedy deficiencies, LBR will progressively apply administrative measures ranging from increased fees for late filings to explicit mentions of non-compliance on extracts and certificates. As a last resort, persistent non-compliance can lead to administrative deregistration and, in severe cases, a report to the public prosecutor’s office.

This three-phase mechanism – preventive, coercive and repressive – is calibrated to nudge compliant and willing entities to correct data, while reserving punitive steps for entities that are unable or unwilling to meet legal requirements, or for those with malicious intent (for example, to conceal beneficial ownership).

Improved controls at entry and continuous automated monitoring

To ensure data quality from the moment of submission and throughout the lifecycle of records, LBR will deploy both automatic and manual controls. Automated upstream checks are embedded in filing forms and apply to required fields, date and numeric formats, mandatory documents, Luxembourg address validation and structured document formats. Manual post-submission checks will verify consistency between submitted information and supporting documents, cross‑reference entries with existing RCS and RBE data, and assess compliance with the legal framework.

Beyond these point-in-time checks, LBR will operate automated, regular surveillance across the registers to detect missing, expired or suspicious information. Cross-checks with other national databases – notably the national register of natural persons (RNPP) for the identification of individuals and accessible databases for address validation – and screening against EU/UN sanctions lists are part of this continuous monitoring framework.

Bastian Schwind-Wagner _Follow

"Luxembourg Business Registers’ phased reform strengthens both preventive support and proportionate enforcement to ensure company and beneficial‑ownership data are accurate, complete and up-to-date. By combining improved filing interfaces, automated checks and targeted manual verification, LBR aims to make its registers a reliable public source for compliance, supervision and risk assessment.

Entities and their advisers should take prompt action to review and update registered information, prepare required supporting documents in the correct formats and respond quickly to LBR communications. Greater data reliability will aid financial crime prevention and streamline due diligence, but it also raises expectations for faster, more accurate compliance from all stakeholders."

Balancing user support with stronger enforcement

LBR emphasizes user assistance: explanations, step-by-step instructions, training and improvements to filing forms and the user portal are core elements intended to reduce the need for coercive measures. The strategy recognizes different categories of entities (those that are capable and willing to comply; willing but incapable; capable but unwilling; and those with criminal intent) and tailors interventions to bring the first two groups into compliance through information and support.

Where education and assistance do not work, the coercive toolkit includes public warnings on LBR’s website, annotations on official extracts and certificates, administrative fines and daily penalties (restraints). A structured fee schedule for late filings is set out: a €50 surcharge for delays up to one month, €200 for delays up to four months, and €500 for delays beyond four months. The most serious enforcement chain culminates with administrative deregistration and possible criminal referral.

Enhancing transparency, legal certainty and the fight against economic crime

The reform’s broader objective is to consolidate LBR as the central authority of reference for company and ownership information in Luxembourg. Better quality registers will deliver more reliable identity and status information on entities and their representatives, improving administrative processes, due diligence and regulatory oversight. The measures are explicitly aimed at strengthening transparency and legal certainty, while contributing to the prevention and detection of money laundering, terrorist financing and other economic crimes.

Operational context and scope

LBR is an economic interest grouping (EIG) created in 2000 and manages several national registers: the Trade and Companies Register (RCS), the Register of Beneficial Owners (RBE), the Electronic Register of Companies and Associations (RESA) and the Insolvency Register (REGINSOL). As of 31 December 2025 LBR administered over 168,400 registered entities. In 2025 more than 371,700 filings were made under RCS and RBE rules and over 833,400 extracts and certificates were ordered. The RBE compliance rate reported for 2025 stood at 94.6%.

Practical implications for regulated entities and service providers

Companies, associations, their service providers and legal representatives should expect a tighter compliance environment in Luxembourg.

Practical steps that affected parties should take now include:

• reviewing and updating registered addresses and beneficial ownership data;
• ensuring supporting documentation is complete and in the required format when filing;
• monitoring communications from LBR and responding promptly to update requests; and,
• for firms advising clients, planning for an increased need to assist clients with remediation work.

For banks, corporate service providers and compliance officers, the reform should improve the reliability of public source data used in customer due diligence, while also raising expectations for the speed and completeness of entity responses to LBR queries. The availability of more consistent, regularly maintained official data will be a positive development for transaction screening and risk scoring.

Next steps and takeaways

The LBR reform is being rolled out gradually with a clear communication campaign and improvements to the LBR portal and filing forms. The priority track involves providing users with guidance and making technical upgrades, while also enforcing measures in a measured but credible way, in order to achieve sustained improvement in register quality. For those subject to Luxembourg filing obligations, the message is simple: use this transitional period to get records in order. For regulators and investigators, the measures promise better data to support national and international risk assessments. For the financial sector, more reliable registers should lower friction in compliance workflows.

Overall, Luxembourg’s plans signal a continued tightening of corporate transparency standards across Europe. They also highlight the growing expectation that registry authorities should not only collect data, but also actively ensure its accuracy and suitability for use in the fight against financial crime.

Dive deeper

• Ministère de la Justice ¦ Luxembourg Business Registers renforce durablement la qualité et la conformité de ses registres ¦ Link