A public register is an official database maintained by a governmental or regulatory authority that provides publicly accessible information (i.e. public data) about individuals, companies or organizations. Public registers play a crucial role in risk assessment and financial crime prevention by enabling financial institutions and regulated entities to validate customer information, detect potential fraud and identify links to high-risk individuals or organizations. 

Within Know Your Customer (KYC) and compliance procedures, public registers are commonly used to verify business entities, ownership structures and financial or legal statuses. Examples include corporate registries that list company names, registration numbers, directors and shareholders, as well as registers of beneficial ownership that disclose individuals who ultimately control a company. Other types of public registers include sanctions lists, politically exposed persons (PEP) databases, court records, and regulatory enforcement actions.

While these registers provide valuable data, their reliability depends on how frequently they are updated and the accuracy of the information submitted by entities.

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