How to Verify a Company in Denmark? An Ultimate Guide

Denmark is one of the easiest countries to do business in with its transparent regulations, strong economy, and digital-first approach. With a vibrant startup scene and high trust in corporate dealings, Denmark attracts entrepreneurs and investors from all over the world. But with openness comes the opportunity for fraudulent entities to slip through the net.

In recent years, Denmark has witnessed increased money laundering and financial crime through shell companies, prompting authorities to strengthen regulations. The Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen), in particular, is working to ensure corporate transparency and compliance. For companies doing business with Danish companies suppliers, partners, or investors checking if a company is legitimate is not only best practice but necessary.

That’s where Know Your Business (KYB) verification becomes essential. Conducting due diligence before entering into any business partnership can prevent financial loss, legal issues, and reputation loss. This country has an official government website where you can verify a company in Denmark, check its registration status, review financial reports, and understand its ownership structure.

In this guide, let’s walk through the step-by-step process of verifying a Danish company in order to protect your business interests.

How to Verify if a Company is Registered in Denmark

Denmark company verification is done through the Central Business Register (CVR), managed by the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen). This portal serves as the primary source of corporate data, ensuring transparency in business operations. On this portal, you can get comprehensive company data besides just checking the legal status.

The comprehensive database on the CVR helps businesses, investors, and financial institutions verify the legitimacy of any registered Danish company, which further helps them identify potential risks and make informed decisions.

Step-by-Step Guide to Verify a Company in Denmark

Business verification in Denmark involves checking a company on the Central Business Register. The website is available in both English and Danish versions, making company search easy for non-native users. Read on to learn how to verify a company in Denmark.

Go to the Official CVR Website: You can start the company verification by first going to the CVR website.

Navigate to the Central Business Register (CVR): Next, use the search function to look up registered Danish companies.

Enter Search Parameters: On the CVR search bar, you can access the data of companies through multiple input parameters:

• • CVR Number (unique business identification number)
  • Business Name (full/ partial name of the organization)
  • Person (name of director, owner of key stakeholder)
  • Address (place where business is registered)

What You Get: After a successful search, you will be given results. From this step onwards, you can review documents and verify them for due diligence and conduct comprehensive KYB on the company you wish to verify.

Challenges of Verifying a Company in Denmark

While the CVR (Central Business Register) portal has an extensive company database, users may still face various challenges during the business screening process. Let’s take a few of them:

Frequent Captchas

On the CVR portal, you will have to do CAPTCHA verification to prove you are a human. While this is good security and prevents data scraping it can also slow down the process for users doing multiple business searches.

Search Sensitivity

The search function is exact. This means that even small typos or variations in company names or CVR numbers will give no results or inaccurate matches. This can be tricky for some businesses, for example, if they don’t have exact information about the firms they are searching for. Searching companies with similar names or abbreviations can also be challenging to get accurate data.

Foreign Companies and RUT Registration Issues

Foreign companies in Denmark have to be registered in the Register of Foreign Service Providers (RUT), but many don’t or provide incorrect information. This lack of accurate registration makes it hard to verify a company’s legitimacy, compliance, and operational status.

Workplace Safety Regulations

Even if a company is in the CVR register, it might have open Danish Working Environment Authority (WEA) enforcement notices due to safety breaches. These can harm credibility, as companies with serious breaches can be penalized or may have operational restrictions, so it’s necessary to verify beyond the CVR listing.

Sector-Specific Challenges

Certain industries like construction, agriculture, and food have extra compliance requirements beyond company registration. Company verification in these sectors requires extra checks such as safety inspections and environmental regulations. Limited public access to some of these records can make it challenging for external parties to verify.

How to Verify Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) in Denmark?

According to The Danish Companies Act, an ultimate beneficial owner is a natural person who ultimately owns or controls a significant part of the company’s ownership or voting rights. The threshold for UBO registrations in Denmark is 25%. This means that any individual holding more than 25% ownership or voting rights must be disclosed. Moreover, if the person is already registered as being under the control of another natural person, both must be registered as UBOs.

The ownership details are available on the CVR business register. To verify a company in Denmark, when you search for a specific business, you can also get access to the UBO data.

Conducting AML Checks on Businesses in Denmark

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) is the AML regulator that oversees anti-money laundering compliance. It supervises banks, insurance companies, pension funds, and other financial institutions.

FSA enforces AML regulations, provides guidance, and works with international regulators on AML/CFT regulations. AML compliance measures for Danish companies include:

Sanctions and Watchlist Screening: Firms must screen customers against international sanctions lists (e.g., UN, EU, OFAC) and domestic regulatory lists. This is to identify individuals or entities connected to financial crime, terrorism, or money laundering before you do business with them.

PEP Screening: This type of screening identifies highly influential Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) to evaluate their risk of involvement in money laundering, terrorist funding, corruption, and other financial crimes.

Adverse Media Screening: Companies must check negative news sources, news platforms, and social media for customer involvement in financial crime. This screens for risks before official sanctions or legal actions, so your AML compliance and risk management are more proactive.

Customer Due Diligence: Firms must verify customer identities, assess risk levels, and implement Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) for high-risk customers. UBO checks are required to ensure transparency in corporate structures and prevent money laundering.

Risk Assessment: To verify a company in Denmark, risk-based AML compliance is crucial. Risk assessment in AML involves evaluating businesses for potential risk of financial crimes. Before onboarding partners, businesses must analyze both jurisdictional risks and the risks associated with a business entity.

The KYB’s automated and proactive risk management empowers organizations to make informed decisions swiftly and confidently.

Business Licensing Bodies in Denmark

• Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA)

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority supervises financial institutions, including banks, investment companies, and payment service providers. They have official lists of licensed companies so you can check if a company is allowed to operate in Denmark and if they comply with Danish and EU financial regulations. Similarly, in the insurance industry, Finanstilsynet supervises insurance companies, pension funds, and brokers and publishes registers of approved providers so you can check if a provider is legit and safe.

• Danish Business Authority (DBA)

For general business registration and trade licenses, the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen) is in control of the CVR register, which is the main database for company information, ownership structure, and financial information. This register is crucial to check if a company is registered in Denmark and operating within Danish law.

• Danish Gambling Authority

In the gaming and gambling sector, the Danish Gambling Authority (Spillemyndigheden) makes sure that operators follow the gambling laws and consumer protection regulations. They publish lists of licensed gambling providers, online casinos, and betting sites so that you can tell the legal from the illegal operators.

How Can The KYB Help You Verify a Company in Denmark?

If you are planning to do business in Denmark, verifying a company isn’t just another formality it’s a necessity. However, doing it yourself can really be challenging as regulatory compliance and portal limitations can make it more complicated than you think.

At The KYB, we simplify company onboarding by sourcing data directly from official sources. Having access to a database of 300M+ companies worldwide, our fast API retrieves company details, business licenses, and certificates from multiple regulatory bodies across 250+ countries and states.

Regulatory compliance is key. That’s why we also run AML checks on businesses and UBO to help mitigate risks. Without proper verification, you risk dealing with fraudulent entities, financial penalties, or compliance violations problems that could have been avoided with the right due diligence. With Integrated AML Checks, you can seamlessly screen businesses and individuals for financial crime risks, ensuring compliance at every step. Additionally, with documents on-demand, you can also access public and paid business filings, and gain a deeper understanding of a company’s financial health, ownership structure, and compliance history.

Contact The KYB today to verify a company in Denmark by getting access to complete company data under one platform!

FAQs

How to check if a company is legit in Denmark?

To verify a company in Denmark, visit the Central Business Register (CVR) and search by company name or registration number. This official database provides key details such as legal status, ownership, and financial records, helping you confirm if a business is legally registered and active before engaging with them.