Company Registry Spotlight: Australia

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) (https://asic.gov.au/) is the institution responsible for maintaining a registry of all registered companies in the country. It is one of the largest public databases in Australia, with over 3 million registered companies listed. 

It is an incredibly valuable resource for businesses, investors, and regulators, providing information about the ownership, management, and financial performance of companies across a wide range of industries. 

The ASIC company registry is updated regularly to reflect changes in the status of registered companies. Most updates to the registry are made within one business day of the relevant transaction or event taking place. For example, when a company changes its name, adds or removes directors, or issues new shares, these changes will be recorded in the registry within one business day.  

Some updates to the registry may take longer to process if they require additional verification or documentation. However, ASIC aims to keep the registry as up to date as possible to ensure that it remains a reliable and accurate source of information about registered companies in Australia. 

ASIC provides a range of information on different entity types that are listed in the registry, including sole traders, partnerships, joint ventures, trusts, and companies (both private and public limited).

In terms of available documents, the main document provided by ASIC is a registry extract containing key information about a company or entity, such as its registered address, directors, shareholders, and other relevant details. This document can be used for a variety of purposes, including due diligence, compliance checks, and other business-related activities.

In addition to the registry extract document, ASIC also provides useful company information, such as the entity’s registered address, ABN/ACN, and company status. Details on officers, directors and secretaries, as well as shareholders and shareholdings, are also available.

Overall, ASIC provides a wealth of information on different entity types and the associated documents and data that are available. This information can be used by businesses and other stakeholders to make informed decisions and conduct due diligence checks when necessary.

In 2022, the ASIC registry recorded the registration of 272,891 new companies, which constituted almost 8.7% of the total number of 3,137,010 registered businesses in Australia that year (Source).

To provide a smooth and efficient client onboarding experience to newly incorporated businesses in Australia and around the world, it is crucial to have real-time access to local registries. Static databases that are only updated at certain intervals cannot keep up with the plethora of new companies registered annually. Relying on such sources for client verification can lead to unnecessary delays and inaccuracies in the client due diligence procedures, which can pose risks for regulated institutions.

By integrating real-time registry access into your business KYC and KYB processes, you can ensure that the information you use to verify newly incorporated clients is accurate and comprehensive. Leveraging the up-to-date information from the Australian registry enables compliance teams to effectively combat fraud and money laundering while providing seamless customer-focused onboarding experiences.

With Know Your Customer’s digital solutions, businesses can not only retrieve real-time information from the company registry in Australia, but also enjoy standardised access to local registries in 125+ countries worldwide. Our user-friendly platform and single API provide compliance teams with up-to-date and precise documentation and shareholder data on companies they are looking to verify during onboarding or periodic reviews. For instance, any new company information or updates to director details available on the ASIC registry are immediately reflected in the data that is retrieved by our KYC platform, thanks to our real-time connection.

Our digital compliance workflow offers end-to-end support for streamlining compliance processes, which can help businesses prevent fraud, and comply with regulatory requirements.