Top Service News
Company Law Changes – ID Verification
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The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act recently came into force. This new legislation gives Companies House increased powers to tackle economic crime including the types of fraudulent activity that leaves unsuspecting trade creditors out of pocket. The hope is that these new measures will lead to improved transparency and more accurate and trusted information on the Companies House register.
Currently there is no requirement for a director or person with significant control (PSC) of a UK registered limited company to verify their identity. This means that unscrupulous people can commit fraudulent acts using false identities.
The new legislation will mean that directors and PSCs will soon need to verify their identity with ID when setting up a new company. Eventually directors and PSCs of existing companies will also need to verify their identity. The number of directorship resignations and transfers of shareholdings this triggers remains to be seen.
We at Top Service Ltd hope that, in addition to cutting down on fraud, it will also help to ‘tidy up’ the register of directors at Companies House. Currently one person can have a number of different identities where they’ve used a slightly different name, a maiden name then married name, a different address, etc. Having every person on the register matched to one verified identity will be a welcome improvement.
More information available here: https://changestoukcompanylaw.campaign.gov.uk/identity-verification/