RFT — Luxembourg’s register of fiducies and trusts

Luxembourg has two beneficial-ownership registers, and the one onboarding teams forget is the one for trusts and fiducies. The Registre des fiducies et des trusts (RFT) was created by the loi du 10 juillet 2020 and is kept by the Administration de l’enregistrement, des domaines et de la TVA (AED), not by Luxembourg Business Registers. It covers every Luxembourg fiducie and every express trust with a trustee established or resident in Luxembourg. It also catches foreign trusts that open a business relationship with a Luxembourg professional. For a payment or e-money institution, the RFT matters twice: as a register you must consult when a trustee or fiduciary is your customer, and as a register whose data you must challenge when it does not match your file.

1. Which arrangements must be registered

Article 13 of the 2020 law sets two routes into the register. Article 1 defines the terms, and article 1(2) extends everything to legal arrangements with a similar structure or function.

Two relief rules stop double filing inside the EU. Where trustees sit in several member states, a certificate proving registration in an equivalent register elsewhere, or an extract of that register, satisfies the Luxembourg duty (art. 13(1), second paragraph). The same applies to a non-EU trust that opens relationships in several member states (art. 13(2), second paragraph). Each registered arrangement receives a unique registration number under article 13(3).

An “express trust” means one clearly set up by the settlor, usually in a written deed, as opposed to a trust arising by operation of law (art. 1(1), point 12). The similar-arrangement test in article 1(2) turns on three features: assets form a separate pool outside the third party’s own estate; title is in the third party’s name or held for them; and the third party must manage the assets and account for doing so.

2. What goes on the register

Article 14(1) requires the registration number, the name of the arrangement if it has one, the date it was concluded, the beneficial-owner data, and a flag saying whether the arrangement holds a controlling interest in a company or other legal entity outside the scope of article 30(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/849.

The beneficial owners are the persons listed in article 2(1): the settlor(s), the trustee(s) or fiduciary(ies), any protector, the beneficiaries or class of beneficiaries, and any other natural person exercising effective control. For each natural person, article 14(2) requires:

• surname, first names and nationalities;
• day, month, year and place of birth;
• country of residence and the precise private or professional address;
• the Luxembourg national identification number, or a foreign one for non-residents not in the national register;
• the nature of the person’s involvement and the extent of the interest held.

Where a beneficial owner is a legal person already registered under article 30 of the directive, the register records its name, seat, register and registration number, and the nature of its involvement. Where beneficiaries are designated by characteristics or by class, the entry says so and describes the class instead of naming individuals.

3. The one-month clock, the refusal rule and retention

Article 15(1) gives fiduciaries and trustees one month from the event that makes it necessary to register the data or change it. The same one-month window applies to telling the AED that the arrangement has ended or that the reason for registration has ceased. Registration and changes are electronic; the AED runs them through MyGuichet.lu, which is also the consultation channel.

Article 18 lets the AED refuse any application that is incomplete or does not comply with the law. The applicant then has fifteen days from the refusal to complete, correct or withdraw the information, or to provide supporting documents.

Two separate retention periods run under article 20. The registration itself and the arrangement-level data are kept for five years after the arrangement ends or ceases to qualify. Each beneficial owner’s personal data is kept for five years after that person’s involvement ends. Trustees and fiduciaries have their own five-year retention duty for the information they hold, running from the end of their involvement (art. 4).

4. Who can see what

Chapter 5 of the law sets four levels of access:

The legitimate-interest route is slow by design. The applicant may search only by registration number, by name, or by conclusion date plus the settlor’s name. The director of the AED decides and notifies both the applicant and each beneficial owner concerned. A favourable decision produces an extract no earlier than one month after the decision, and not at all while an appeal is pending. Using the information for a purpose other than the one granted is punishable by a fine of €1,250 to €1,250,000 (art. 28).

Article 31 lets a beneficial owner ask for access to be limited to authorities, self-regulatory bodies, credit and financial institutions, bailiffs and notaries, on grounds of disproportionate risk, fraud, kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, harassment, violence or intimidation, or where the owner is a minor or incapable. The limitation applies provisionally from receipt of the request, lasts at most three years, and can be renewed. Credit and financial institutions keep access even then, which is why a payment institution’s view of the register can be wider than a corporate counterparty’s.

5. The discrepancy duty and the AED’s powers

Article 19 requires anyone with access to report to the AED “without delay” any discrepancy between the RFT and the beneficial-ownership information they hold. That is stricter than the thirty-day window in the company register (RBE). The AED then uses its powers to get the entry updated, and in the meantime inserts a specific mention on the file, so that other users see an update has been requested.

Those powers sit in articles 21 and 22. The AED can demand any document on a registrable arrangement, request beneficial-ownership data from other supervisors, and order a trustee to register, update or stop a non-compliant practice. It can back an order with a daily penalty of up to €1,250, capped at €25,000 for the breach. For late registration, late updates or knowingly inaccurate entries, the director of the AED can impose a warning, a reprimand, a public statement, or a fine of up to twice the benefit gained or up to €1,250,000. Obstruction carries a separate fine of €250 to €250,000. Appeals go to the administrative tribunal within one month (art. 24).

A separate supervisory layer covers the obligations of chapter 2 (holding the data, disclosing status, answering authorities). The CSSF, the CAA and the self-regulatory bodies supervise their own populations. The AED picks up trustees, fiduciaries and professionals in Luxembourg that no other supervisor covers (art. 7).

6. Three situations, and what the practitioner does

Scenario 1 — a Jersey trust opens an account with a Luxembourg EMI.

Facts: the trustee, a company in Jersey, applies for a business account with a Luxembourg e-money institution to pay the trust’s expenses. The trustee supplies a deed and a beneficiary list but no RFT number.

What the rule says: the trustee is established neither in Luxembourg nor in a member state, so article 13(2) makes the trust registrable once it enters a business relationship with a Luxembourg professional. Article 6(1) obliges the trustee to declare its status and, where applicable, provide the registration number.

What the practitioner does: treats registration as a condition of the relationship. Asks for the RFT number, or proof of an equivalent EU registration if the trust also banks elsewhere in the EU. Consults the RFT under article 26(2) once the number exists, and files the extract. Sets a follow-up if the trust is not yet on the register, since the trustee’s one-month window runs from the event that makes registration necessary.

Scenario 2 — the register names two beneficiaries; the deed names three.

Facts: an analyst consults the RFT for a Luxembourg fiducie. The register lists two beneficiaries. The deed on file and the fiduciary’s own declaration list a third, added eight months ago.

What the rule says: article 19 requires anyone with access to report the discrepancy to the AED without delay. Separately, the fiduciary should have updated the entry within one month under article 15(1).

What the practitioner does: reports through the AED channel the same day and records the date and reference. Asks the fiduciary to regularise. Treats the late update as a data point for the customer risk assessment, not as an automatic exit. Checks later that the AED’s “update requested” mention has cleared.

Scenario 3 — a counterparty asks you for trust data you cannot give.

Facts: a supplier’s compliance team asks your firm for the beneficial owners of a trust you bank, citing its own due diligence.

What the rule says: the supplier is not a professional doing due diligence on your customer, so it has no article 26 access. Its route is a legitimate-interest application to the AED under article 27, with a decision, notice to the beneficial owners, and at least a one-month wait for any extract.

What the practitioner does: declines to share the data. Points the supplier to the AED procedure. Records the request, because a counterparty chasing beneficial-ownership data through the back door is itself worth noting.

7. A note on the version of the law

This article follows the consolidated text on Legilux applicable from 12 August 2022. Two developments sit around it. The Court of Justice judgment of 22 November 2022 (joined cases C-37/20 and C-601/20) struck down general public access to the company beneficial-ownership registers. Luxembourg rebuilt the RBE access rules in the law of 23 January 2025. And Directive (EU) 2024/1640 (AMLD6) required member states to transpose its register-access articles 11, 12, 13 and 15 by 10 July 2026. Before relying on the access rules in chapter 5, check Legilux for any later amending law.

FAQ

8. What to do, today

• Add an RFT check to your trust and fiducie onboarding flow. Ask for the registration number and consult the register; the RBE does not cover these arrangements.
• Flag non-EU trustees at intake. Your relationship is what triggers their Luxembourg registration under article 13(2).
• Route RFT discrepancies to the AED the same day. “Without delay” leaves no batching window.
• Keep the extract, the consultation date and any discrepancy reference on file. Your firm’s access is logged for five years under article 30(2); your own evidence should match.
• Watch Legilux for the AMLD6 transposition. The access chapter is the part most likely to change.

Related: RBE — Luxembourg’s beneficial owners register · CRBOT — Ireland’s trust beneficial ownership register · Beneficial ownership registers compared