Planned since 2021: Is the central asset register for all EU citizens coming?

EU Asset Register – what is really behind it?

The reality is more nuanced: Since 2021, there has in fact been a political project for a European asset data infrastructure (“EU asset registry”) — but so far no adopted EU regulation that introduces a central, complete asset register for all citizens. Instead, the following exist:

• a comprehensive feasibility study by the EU Commission (published in 2024), feasibility study 2024;
• an already adopted EU anti-money laundering package (AMLR, AMLA regulation, etc.) with obligations to aggregate information on certain assets and high-value goods, AML measures 2023;
• and an ongoing political and societal debate about the purpose, limits, and risks of a comprehensive asset register. Delors policy brief

The following provides an overview along the requested points – including an honest assessment of how likely such a system is to be implemented and who would be most affected by it in practice.

Who initiated the EU asset register?

Political origin in the European Parliament

The first concrete step was not a “secret plan of the EU Commission” but an official mandate from the European Parliament: On 3 December 2021, the Commission put a feasibility study out to tender. This parliamentary question 2024 shows that the mandate was explicitly initiated by the Parliament.

The project was awarded to a consortium led by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). The idea was supported by NGOs and think tanks — such as the Delors Centre — which advocated transparency and asset oversight as tools against tax evasion, money laundering, and corruption.

Role of the EU Commission and the new authority

The EU Commission took on the mandate and carried out the study — but emphasizes that this does not constitute an obligation to actually introduce a register at a later stage.

With the new legal framework in the area of anti-money laundering, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) was created, partly as a central supervisory and coordinating authority for the Member States. Many commentators see AMLA as a potential technical hub — at least for register-based data queries.

What would an EU asset register contain?

Scenarios in the feasibility study

According to the official study from July 2024, three different scenarios are examined — with different intensities and technical scopes. This asset registry study distinguishes:

• Scenario 1: New national registers for specific types of assets — and linking them at EU level.
• Scenario 2: Existing national registers are interconnected via a central EU access portal.
• Scenario 3: Actual creation of a central, EU-wide asset register.

According to the study, asset types that frequently play a role in money laundering, tax evasion, or complex financial structures are considered “relevant”. This overview of possible asset types mentions bank accounts, securities accounts, real estate and land, corporate shareholdings, high-value goods (yachts, aircraft, luxury cars, art), crypto assets, precious metals, and safe deposit boxes.

What already exists?

Even today, there are certain registers and registration obligations at EU level or in many Member States that are seen as building blocks of a larger system. These include transparency or beneficial ownership registers, account registers, land registers, company and commercial registers, securities accounts, etc.

New — and part of the anti-money laundering package adopted in 2023/2024 — are extended reporting obligations for certain high-value goods. In the public debate, these changes are sometimes described as a “covert asset register”, even though no unified register exists in legal terms.

Purpose: What is it all for?

Officially, three main objectives are stated:

• Combating money laundering and terrorist financing: In cases of suspicion, authorities should be able to obtain easier and cross-border access to relevant asset data .
• Combating tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance: Disclosure and transparency are intended to make assets visible that are concealed via offshore structures or complicated company constructs.
• Enforcement of sanctions and confiscation of illegal assets: Especially in times of crisis, an EU-wide overview of assets is meant to help locate, freeze, or confiscate assets. The Delors brief 2022 explicitly refers to this.

EU asset register: implementation uncertain

The EU asset register is currently more a project and subject of debate than a reality.

Whether this will result in a complete, central register of all assets of all citizens is currently doubtful for legal, technical, and political reasons.

A more realistic scenario is a gradual expansion and interlinking of individual registers — an “asset data network” rather than a single mega-database.

For the political debate, the crucial questions remain:

• How will fundamental rights and data protection be protected in concrete terms?
• Who will have access — only law enforcement authorities or also tax authorities, social services, and possibly further bodies in the future?
• How can it be prevented that, in practice, the rules primarily affect those who are least able to defend themselves — and not those at whom they are actually aimed?

The answers to these questions will determine whether an asset register will be accepted as a legitimate tool against financial crime — or perceived as yet another step towards the “transparent citizen”.