With a straightforward structure, the initial report can indeed be completed quickly. The benefit becomes apparent later. As soon as investors come on board, a shareholders' agreement is entered into, or a convertible bond is issued, the starting position changes. If the underlying data has been maintained in a structured way from the outset, the assessment can then be updated rather than rebuilt from scratch.

Only a company that keeps track of its ownership and control relationships on an ongoing basis can assess whether a transaction is relevant to its register entry. If the shareholder base is maintained across scattered files, a relevant change is often only noticed when someone external asks about it. A share register with a traceable history and ongoing monitoring of ownership relationships make such changes visible while the reporting deadline is still open.

No. The register receives reports; it is not a working environment for the company. Supporting documents, evidence and the reasoning behind the company's assessment remain within the company and must still be retrievable there if the responsible person leaves. This is precisely why a repository linked to the ownership data is needed.