The government published the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill on 22 September 2022 to deliver a range of reforms to tackle economic crime and improve transparency over corporate entities.
The reforms will result in a number of changes to the role of Companies House, including:
- Identity verification for all new and existing registered company directors, People with Significant Control, and those filing documents at Companies House. All entities registered at Companies House will have at least one fully verified natural person directly associated with them on the register.
- Increase in Companies House’s powers to check, remove or decline information submitted to, or already on, the companies register.
- Provision of greater investigation and enforcement powers for Companies Houseto challenge suspicious information and share this information with law enforcement bodies where they have evidence of anomalous filings or suspicious activity.
- Enhancing the protection of personal information provided to Companies House to protect individuals from fraud and other harms.
- Improving the financial information on the register so that the register is more reliable, complete and accurate. Filing processes for small businesses will be streamlined and digitised.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill may become law by the end of this year, with the changes to Companies House likely coming into effect at a later date.
If you have any queries about anything mentioned in this article, please contact Amber Monaghan.
