Business registers
Rootline confirms a merchant's business against the official register for its country, rather than taking the details on trust.
Direct register access
Rootline connects directly to national registers across the European countries it supports, rather than relying only on the documents a merchant uploads. For most countries this covers the company register, for example the Dutch KVK (Kamer van Koophandel) or the German Handelsregister, and in a growing number of countries the beneficial-owner register as well. Direct access is how Rootline confirms a business is real and identifies its beneficial owners quickly, ahead of the EU-wide interconnection of registers.
The register confirms that the business exists, that its legal name, address, and registration number match what was submitted, and who its directors and beneficial owners are.
What the register is used for
- Prefill: the business's details populate the onboarding form so the merchant confirms rather than retypes. See Fast onboarding.
- Verification: Rootline checks that the registration is real and matches what the merchant submitted.
- Beneficial owners: the register helps identify the people who must be verified. See Beneficial owners.
Rootline keeps the real identifiers of the business, its registration number and VAT number, rather than any country-specific tax identifier, so the same approach works across the countries Rootline supports.
Coverage
Rootline has direct access to the national registers across much of Europe. The map shows where company and beneficial-owner checks run against those registers:
