UK Corporate Transparency - Sweeping Changes On The Horizon

In February 2022, the UK Government published the Corporate Transparency and Register Reform White Paper (the "White Paper"), which set out its plans to reform Companies House and increase the transparency of UK corporate structures.

The White Paper followed concerns that the UK's current regime was facilitating criminal behaviour, through convoluted corporate structures that masked economic crimes such as money laundering and fraud. These reforms follow the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 which had a similar rationale and, for example, introduced a register of overseas entities and their beneficial owners. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such issues have been pushed even further into the public eye.