Credit Management January February 2024

THE NEWS
CMNEWS
A round-up of news stories from the
world of consumer and commercial credit.
WRITTEN BY: SEAN FEAST FCICM
CICM welcomes changes
to Companies House
COMPANIES House will
have more investigative
and enforcement powers
than ever before following
the granting of royal assent
to the Economic Crime and Corporate
Transparency Act, improving the accuracy
and quality of data, tackling economic
crime and driving confidence in the UK
economy.
The Act will introduce new statutory
objectives for Companies House to ensure
that anyone who is required to deliver
a document to the registrar does so (and
that the requirements for proper delivery
are complied with), as well as ensuring
information contained in the register is
accurate and that the register contains
everything it ought to contain.
The act will help ensure that records kept
by the registrar do not create a false or
misleading impression to members of the
public and prevent companies and others
from carrying out unlawful activities or
facilitating the carrying out by others of
unlawful activities.
Sue Chapple FCICM, Chief Executive of
the CICM, says that some of the changes
the industry has been crying out for are
now within touching distance: “CICM has
been an active supporter of Companies
House from the beginning. But we have also
never been afraid to express concerns
where they have been warranted in
supporting our members in using data
to take informed decisions to mitigate
risk and support business growth.
“A Bill which seeks to significantly
improve the validity and reliability
of information held by Companies
House has to be a good thing and is
arguably long overdue. Of course,
it could have gone further, but we
“CICM has
been an active
supporter of
Companies
House from the
beginning. But we
have also never
been afraid to
express concerns
where they have
been warranted
in supporting our
members’’
should celebrate small victories where
they present themselves and giving
Companies House greater powers
of investigation and enforcement
alongside more robust initial
identity verification requirements
for new and existing directors
are both positive steps in the
right direction.
“Our members have to
know that the information
kept at Companies House can be relied
upon, subject to their own professional
insight and expertise in interpreting the
information they are given. This is even
more important in the current financial
climate.”
Robert Brooker, Director of PKF GM
and an expert in forensic accounting and
fraud, similarly welcomes the news: “It will
provide the capability to cross reference
and share data with third parties, enabling
Companies House to (hopefully) become
more robust with regards to company
registrations thereby preventing fraudulent
directors and companies from operating,
as opposed to currently whereby no due
diligence is undertaken, let alone utilising
other dependable data.
“This will enable Companies House to
act more effectively when people tell them
their personal information has been used
without consent. This will make a real
difference to individuals. Currently it’s so
very slow and farcical as they write to the
victims address to confirm if the fraudulent
company exists, after the victim has
already reported that the company and its
Directors do not reside at their residential
address!”
Robert is positive that the changes will
have a constructive impact on the number
of fraudulent companies being registered
for nefarious purposes and the knock on
effect of further fraudulent activity will
help reduce the volume of fraud in the UK:
“My only caveat is I don’t think we should
underestimate the size of the task ahead
as the data is currently so vast and out of
date, with hundreds of new companies
being added every day. I am concerned that
so much may be lost in the ether and in
fact we may take one step forward and two
steps back.”
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / January & February 2024 / PAGE 6