The Norwegian Register of Beneficial Owners was opened 1st of October 2024. 31st of July 2025 was the deadline for all Norwegian companies to register their Beneficial Owners in the register.
A lot of European countries have struggled with the quality of their Beneficial Owners registers. Many companies have registered incorrect beneficial owners, either intentionally or due to negligence.
The question is, do we see similar problems in the Norwegian Register of Beneficial Owners?
We have done a statistical analysis of the quality of the Beneficial Owners register based on a real client list from a bank. This analysis is described here (Norwegian).
The purpose of this article is to show examples.
The Beneficial Owners definition in the Norwegian AML-legislation and the register legislation differs. This article is not related to that difference. If you are interested in how they differ, have a look at: this blog post.
This article shows examples of deviations when we compare the Norwegian Register of Beneficial Owners with independent sources, using the exact same Beneficial Owners definition as in the register legislation. The examples were found by examining only a couple of dozens random companies.
When such deviations appear, there might be legitimate or illegitimate reasons.
Legitimate reasons might be that:
Illegitimate reasons might be, as mentioned above, that companies have registered incorrect beneficial owners intentionally or due to negligence.
Below are three anonymized real-life examples of deviations between the Norwegian Register of Beneficial Owners and independent sources.
Example 1
Aurora Thoresen is the only individual registered as Beneficial Owner in the Norwegian Register of Beneficial Owners for the company Berg, Sørensen og Eriksen. According to independent sources, Camilla Johannessen Fjeld is in control of Berg, Sørensen og Eriksen, and should also be considered a Beneficial Owner. Camilla Johannessen Fjeld is registered as a Beneficial Owner in the Swedish Beneficial Owners register for the Swedish intermediate owners.
Example 2
Benjamin Fredriksen Røed is the only individual registered as Beneficial Owner in the Norwegian Register of Beneficial Owners for the company Edvardsen-Krogh. According to independent sources, Oskar Stenerud has the same level of indirect ownership and control as Benjamin Fredriksen Røed, and should also be registered as a Beneficial Owner.
Example 3
Andreassen AS does not have any Beneficial Owners registered in the Norwegian Register of Beneficial Owners. According to independant sources, Mari Solli is in control of Andreassen AS, and thus Mari Solli should be registered as a Beneficial Owner of Andreassen AS. Mari Solli is registered as a Beneficial Owner of Stensrud ASA, a company in control of Andreassen AS.
The Norwegian Beneficial Owners register obviously has some quality issues, as our analysis indicates. Let us hope the quality increases when Brønnøysundregistrene starts to follow up companies with missing Beneficial Owners.
Please contact Arne Petter Omholt, CEO of T-rank, if you want to know more.
Arne Petter Omholt, apo (at) trank (dot) no, +47 928 45 233