what do I fill in for the question about collateral for financing

Collateral is not a standard question from a single format

The question about collateral does not belong to a fixed list like UBOs or annual figures — it appears as soon as the bank combines client due diligence with a concrete financing request. There is no legally prescribed answer format, so the bank often asks in its own words: sometimes "what security can you provide", sometimes "do you have collateral", sometimes broken down by real estate, inventory, receivables and machinery. Recognise the question by content, not by wording.

What you enter is factual: which assets are registered in the name of the enterprise and are free from existing pledges or mortgages. This means the answer is only correct if it aligns with the balance sheet and any existing financing contracts — a bank that asks for collateral usually sets that alongside the deposited financial statements, and a discrepancy between what you state and what appears there only causes delay. If you have no collateral or have not yet identified which assets are free, do not enter that you can offer something — leave it open or indicate that this is still being examined. This question often appears in the same portal as questions about banking relationships and about credit assessment: together they form the risk picture that the bank attaches to the financing, and collateral is the component in that picture that must limit losses in case of default.

Why this belongs to client due diligence

The basis for this type of question does not lie in a single article on collateral, but in the Directive on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism: it requires the bank to conduct client due diligence, which also includes recording the nature and background of the requested service — here: financing with security. Collateral falls outside the mandatory data scope of the Trade Register Act 2007 and outside the CSRD reporting obligation; it is a supplementary, contractual question from the bank itself, not a statutory reporting obligation of the enterprise.