How to check who owns a company
Company registries country by country: what they publish, what a search costs, whether beneficial owners are shown and how to order official extracts, from the registries themselves, dated. Updated 20 October 2026.
Explainers
- Beneficial ownership registers explained
What beneficial ownership registers hold, what FATF Recommendation 24 asks of countries, and how a 2022 EU court ruling changed public access.
- Beneficial ownership thresholds and public access compared
The share or vote level at which a person counts as a beneficial owner in nine registries, what FATF guidance says, and who can see the data.
- What a company registry search shows and does not show
What a company registry search tells you about directors, filings, shareholders and beneficial owners, with examples and limits from six registries.
Countries
- Ghana: ORC company search, fees and beneficial ownership register
How to search Ghana's Office of the Registrar of Companies, the 2026 search and copy fees, and what the public sees on the beneficial ownership register.
- Kenya: Business Registration Service search and beneficial ownership
Kenya Business Registration Service: how to order an official search (formerly CR12) on eCitizen, the fee, and who can see beneficial ownership data.
- Mauritius: CBRD company search, document fees and beneficial ownership
How to search a Mauritian company online at the CBRD, the cost of an extract or certificate of current standing, and who can see beneficial owners.
- Nigeria: CAC company search, fees and persons with significant control
How to search Nigeria's Corporate Affairs Commission register, what search reports cost, and what the public sees about persons with significant control.
- Rwanda: RDB company register and beneficial ownership
How company records work at Rwanda's Office of the Registrar General at RDB, the online portals, and the rules on beneficial owners.
- Seychelles: FSA registry, company records and the beneficial ownership database
Who registers Seychelles international business companies, what the FSA offers online, and who can access the beneficial ownership database.
- South Africa: CIPC company search, disclosure fees and beneficial ownership
How to search company records at South Africa's CIPC, the disclosure fees for certificates, inspections and copies, and the 2022 beneficial ownership law.
- South Sudan: the Business Registry at the Ministry of Justice
South Sudan's business registry sits in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. Little is published online on searches, fees or owners.
- Tanzania: BRELA company search, fees and beneficial ownership
BRELA and its Online Registration System: free company lookup, search and extract fees in TSh, and the beneficial ownership filing rules.
- Uganda: URSB company search, fees and beneficial ownership
How to search the companies register at the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, the fees for searches and copies, and who can see beneficial owner data.
- United Arab Emirates: federal and free zone registers and beneficial ownership rules
How to check a UAE business licence on the National Economic Register, how free zone registers differ, and the 25 percent beneficial owner rule.
- United Kingdom: Companies House search, owners and certified copies
Companies House: free online search, what it shows on officers and persons with significant control, identity checks, and certified copy fees.
- Zambia: PACRA company search, printout fees and beneficial ownership
How to search a Zambian company at PACRA, what a Legal Entity Printout shows and costs, and the rules on beneficial owners.
Company Registries is a public-interest reference site. It is not a government website. Our methodology page explains how we check every figure.