New regulations have been published that extend the ability of Companies House to disclose information contained on the UK’s Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) to certain government or independent enforcement agencies, writes Sophie Alexander.
The ROE regime created a publicly available register identifying the beneficial owners of overseas entities that hold land in the UK. These overseas entities are required to register with Companies House and provide details of their beneficial owners. In some cases, the entity must also provide details of its managing officers and of any trusts that form part of its ownership structure.
Currently, any Director of a company registered with Companies House must disclose their residential address and full date of birth. Companies House does not make this residential address or full date of birth publicly available. Similarly, Companies House does not make information on trusts available to the public and is currently able to provide that information only to HM Revenue & Customs.
Under the new regulations and as part of the ROE regime, Companies House will be able to provide residential address, full date of birth and trust information to a wider range of law enforcement authorities and security services, including various regulators and government authorities, such as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Health and Safety Executive, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the Pensions Regulator and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The list also includes Local Authorities.
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