Cautious welcome for Companies House reforms to stop fraudsters

Anti-fraud and moneylaundering experts today gave a cautious welcome to reforms to Britain's Companies House system aimed at clamping down on criminal abuse of the system.

Britain has a global reputation for being fast, easy and cheap to set up companies, but experts say this has made it a magnet for corruption, encouraging people from around the world to set up shell companies here to move around their dirty money.

Today, the government said it was making steps to "clamp down on fraud" by bringing in compulsory identity verification at Companies House and giving the body extra powers to question and remove false information. It pledged to launch a "24/7 digital verification process".

The Evening Standard has reported on how criminals are able to post false details on the Companies House register with ease. One described his occupation as "fraudster" in Italian.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said the changes would not slow the service down.

Robert Barrington, professor of anti-corruption practice at the University of Sussex, said: "This has been a long time coming, but it's a welcome step forward."

He said there were concerns over the lack of a timetable and an absence of detail over how the technology would work.

He added that the government had promised such a move for many years, along with many other transparency measures. "What will make a difference is having the full set in place, not a drip feed of single measures every year or so."

David Clarke, chairman of the Fraud Advisory Panel and former director of the police's National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, said: "We welcome these proposals. Crooks hate transparency.

"Verifying and publishing who’s behind a company and using tech to spot fraud quickly is vital to protect the UK.

"We have been calling for this since 2012. It’s also why we asked the Chancellor to publish information about companies that have received taxpayer backed loans."