Global Updates on Transparency, Data Privacy and Register Integrity
The new year opened with beneficial-ownership and privacy in tension: New Zealand revived its register plans and the UK mapped hidden offshore owners, even as Australia scrubbed director data on safety advice and a data-broker case exposed how open registers can be misused. Register clean-ups in Nigeria and record insolvencies in New Zealand rounded out the month. Here is our round-up of the month's corporate-registry news.
Here are this month’s highlights:
- New Zealand: Government rejoins the road to a beneficial-ownership register
The Government revived plans for a beneficial-ownership register covering companies and limited partnerships, reopening the long-running debate over whether trusts should also be captured.
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- United Kingdom: Companies House delays mandatory ID verification
Companies House revised its ECCTA timetable, pushing back some mandatory identity-verification elements for those making filings and giving agents more time to comply.
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- United Kingdom: Interactive map lays bare hidden offshore property owners
Tax Policy Associates mapped nearly 100,000 UK properties held via offshore companies, finding the real owner hidden in more than 40% of cases — a pointed critique of the overseas-entities register.
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- Australia: ASIC scrubs director data after Chalmers and ASIO intervention
The Treasurer wrote to ASIC citing intelligence advice to limit open access to personal information', prompting the regulator to restrict director data on safety grounds.
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- United Kingdom: Business factory' for China-based clients shut down
Following Insolvency Service investigations, several companies that registered thousands of UK firms with no genuine UK presence for China-based clients were wound up in the public interest.
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- Nigeria: CAC deregisters 400,000 inactive companies
Nigeria's Corporate Affairs Commission struck off more than 400,000 firms for failing to file annual returns, a register clean-up coinciding with the roll-out of its beneficial-ownership register.
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- United Kingdom: Andy King appointed Regulator of Community Interest Companies
The Business Secretary confirmed Andy King as the Regulator of Community Interest Companies, adding a CIC-oversight role to his Companies House leadership.
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- United Kingdom: Q4 2025 incorporation statistics published
Companies House released official statistics on companies incorporated in the UK from October to December 2025, a key barometer of formation activity.
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- New Zealand: Liquidations hit a 15-year high; record company removals in 2025
New Zealand recorded its highest liquidations in 15 years as 2025 proved brutal for struggling firms, alongside an all-time-record 50,485 company removals for the year.
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- United Arab Emirates: New law grants Emirati' status to UAE-registered firms
A 2026 amendment to the Commercial Companies Law recognises all UAE-registered businesses as Emirati' legal entities, aiming to enhance their global credibility.
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- European Union: MEPs propose a pan-European framework for innovative companies
MEPs backed a single set of harmonised rules for innovative companies, intended to deepen the single market and ease cross-border investment — a step toward a common corporate form.
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- European Union: CRIF case shows public registries increasingly misused
A noyb review covering 2,400+ individuals found that a major data broker's sources tap public company and land registers, spotlighting the privacy risks of open register data.
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- United States: New York enacts UCC amendments on digital assets
New York adopted 2026 UCC amendments introducing rules for controllable electronic records, security interests and priority relevant to secured-transactions and PPSR-style registers.
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- Ghana: ORC bans bearer shares
Ghana's Office of the Registrar of Companies formally banned the issuance, holding and transfer of bearer shares, warning of sanctions for non-compliance.
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Stay updated by visiting often our "Registry News Weekly" summary and the Foster Moore blog for more insights on these stories and other key registry news.
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