UK Companies House identity verification requirement nears

Money laundering won’t go away. In fact, the problem is growing. Strict anti money laundering (AML) regulations can help, but the battlefield is continually shifting, as fraud tactics evolve. In response, the UK is preparing to change how it handles its identity registries, making identity verification mandatory for the directors and beneficial owners of firms registered with Companies House.

The requirement under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, which takes effect within the month, is being framed as a major change to UK corporate law. A post on the topic from iComply notes how the shift will introduce “new pressures for compliance teams, legal advisers, and company secretaries – especially those still relying on outdated onboarding methods.”

All new directors will have to undergo identity verification, while existing directors and PSCs will have 12 months to verify their identity. The requirements will roll out to eventually include limited liability partnerships, overseas companies, and unregistered companies.

Verification can be performed through GOV.UK One Login, in person at a post office, via an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) such as a law firm or compliance vendor, or using iComply’s decentralized method, which uses document authentication, active and passive liveness detection, and 3D biometric face matching. Noncompliance can lead to penalties, including being barred from registering a directorship in a UK company.

The second progress report on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, covering parts 1 to 3, contains more details. Annual reports are to continue until 2030.

GLEIF, Open Ownership launch GODIN to align with global frameworks

A new strategic initiative from the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) and Open Ownership aims to use AI and Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) tech to make organizational ownership more transparent.

A blog post says the Global Open Data Integration Network (GODIN) builds on the preexisting Transparency Fabric initiative, which enables tracing of parties engaged in money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions evasion.

“Criminal enterprises evade detection by constructing complex laundering operations that span borders and jurisdictions, channeling and obfuscating illicit funds through an intricate web of financial institutions, legal entities, and individuals,” GLEIF says. “Complicating things further for AML is the fragmentation and inaccessibility of underlying datasets.”

The intention is for GODIN to “play a crucial role in overcoming the enduring challenge of data opacity and fragmentation in cross-border finance.” Transparency Fabric combed authoritative datasets from multiple open data initiatives, with the LEI as a “standardized connector to ensure accuracy and consistency.” Adding large language models (LLMs) to the mix has enabled increased speed in extracting and analyzing information from unstructured documents, to better map complex ownership structures.

Now GODIN is set to strengthen global data interoperability and accessibility by “aligning open data with globally recognized frameworks, such as the Global LEI System and the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard (BODS),” creating a “transparent, efficient, and interconnected ecosystem that enhances the utility of data across the public and private sectors.”

A stated ambition of GODIN is to “foster meaningful collaboration among all organizations that publish or steward open data, encouraging the co-development of tools and solutions that support a shared vision of the future where transparency is the default expectation.” Active founding members include Global Energy Monitor (GEM), the Supply Chain Data Exchange (SC-DEX), the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC), and the Global Media Registry (GMR).

GLEIF has also released its latest Data Quality Report for June 2025, available here.

Article Topics

AML  |  Companies House  |  digital identity  |  financial crime  |  fraud prevention  |  GLEIF  |  identity verification  |  Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)