1. 1 Report on CRF Conference Hong Kong March 2006 Lynn Lynch Companies House UK

2. 2 CRF Delegates Australia Brunei Canada PR of China Hong Kong Malaysia Mauritius New Zealand Samoa Singapore South Africa Thailand United Kingdom

3. 3 Observers of CRF 2006 Denmark Ireland Jersey The Netherlands Norway Serbia & Montenegro

4. 4 Working across ECRF and CRF Mutual recognition and co-operation Observer status Benchmarking / sharing information Secondment Study visits

5. 5 Themes of CRF Conference IT Updates Compliance Company Law Reform Business & Economic Promotion

6. 6 IT updates: general observations Paperless environment? Self-management of date Greater use of electronic channels for filing and searching Financial incentives to use electronic Increasing data quality

7. 7 IT updates: general observations Integrity of register Security of register ‘Unlocking value for public information’ Sending electronic reminders to clients XBRL developments - Singapore and UK

8. 8 Compliance

9. 9 Compliance: general observations Prevention v prosecution Enforcement difficulties Linking with other government departments to achieve compliance Use of IT to achieve compliance Discussions on Annual Return Fraud and the register

10. 10 Compliance issues - the UK ‘Soft compliance’ - public target 92%, actual 91% ‘Hard compliance’ - 85% for accounts, 65% for annual returns Habitual offenders Marketing campaigns Company Law Reform Bill

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15. 15 Fraud - UK Facts and Figures: –Measured since 2002 –Approximately 50 cases a month –Over 500,000 standard filings a month (0.01%) –1 case could cost £1m.

16. 16 False Filing Cases - UK May 02 - Jan 06

17. 17 False Filing Cases - UK

18. 18 Fraud - UK Key Areas Company Hijacks –False Appointments –False Auditors –False Financial Information –Similar named companies –Copying signatures on the CH record –Non-regulation of company formation agents

19. 19 Fraud - press coverage

20. 20 Fraud - what are we doing to prevent it? Focus on Hijack Operation Sterling Police Liaison Officer on site Home Office Identity Fraud Steering Group Work with others - OGD’s and credit reference agencies

21. 21 Fraud - prevention cont…. Crime analysis Evaluate electronic validation options Company Law Reform changes Marketing activity 3 Point plan

22. 22 our 3 point plan to prevent identity fraud 1.Electronic Filing 3.Monitor 2.PROOF

23. 23 safe and simple a secure system for the quick and easy online submission of company information Electronic filing

24. 24 PROOF PROtected Online Filing

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27. 27 Get the bigger picture Monitor

28. 28 Company Law Reform Bill - helping prevent fraud in the UK? A company can agree to file documents electronically - PROOF will be on a statutory basis It will be an offence to deliver false, misleading or deceptive documents Registrar has the power to resolve inconsistencies on the register Unique identifiers for directors

29. 29 Business & Economic Promotion: general observations File once with government: New Zealand model

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36. 36 Questions?