Tuesday 7th April
You have to feel sorry for poor old 'Fred the shred.' He is not alone in being a highly paid CEO on a good pension. He is also not the only one to see his company’s shares nosedive. According to a recent edition of the Metro, last year the highest paid FTSE company CEO lost 36% of their company's share value - the lowest paid raised their company's share price by 1%. However Fred is singled out in the media and now protesters have managed to find out where he lives and damage his property.

Now, I am not condoning the actions of these people. I have no doubt that everything was insured and if I was a betting man (I am not... that is why I have a steady job and do not work in the city), I’d say he has been offered the opportunity to claim from somebody over the 'distress caused' (would this incident be seen as a work related accident?) However, I suspect that incidents like this will be used to suggest that removing address details against directors is a good thing and would stop this kind of action - or worse - taking place.

I feel this argument is very weak. Huntingdon Life Sciences was the big story when policy makers started to think directors needed protection. But I am sure stories of this nature will continue if someone or a collection of people feel strongly enough to break the law and find somebody to vent their frustration at for the sake of the victims (whether they be savers, pension holders, employees, shareholders or little fluffy bunnies.) People’s resourcefulness and ability to get information is amazing.

So what has all this got to do with a blog about the Companies Act? Well a key element of the act is to enable all directors to have a service address (this can be a PO box number) as long as they provide a usual residential address for Companies House to keep for viewing by important authorities (like the police) and for registered credit reference agencies to use as part of a credit decision process. I am sure Companies House will manage this data with the greatest of care (although they freely admit that this is not a current core competence.) But it is a very strange omission when you look at it.

Firstly, confidentiality orders have been around for a while so the director could achieve this already. Secondly, the details of the director are already in the public domain so a check on previous returns will provide the information you need. Moreover, address data is not exclusive to company documentation. Electoral rolls, phone directories, men with moustaches and even the worldwide web (allegedly) can be used to get information on people and where they live and how to contact them. Hey, I can type in my postcode and see my house via Google Earth! Nice tool if you are plotting to come to my house and destroy my daffodils in vengeance over this outpouring.

I am sure in the vast amount of cases directors would rather disclose information so they can show they are associated with companies that are sound and help the flow of credit into their business and for their customers.

Finally, it makes knowing your customer more challenging. Organisations like ICC will be able to show old data but not confirm whether it is still valid. We can say credit should not be given to the person if they are connected to some failing companies but we cannot say what connects them. So in order to protect, the ability to legitimately clarify and comply to best practice in the firm is weakened. In addition, tracing and spotting fraud may become more difficult.

ICC will of course work to achieve the 'conditions' required to be a credit reference agency so we can use URAs. Moreover, we are rebuilding our stakeholder database to ensure we can match as many directors and shareholders together based on new rules (using address data far less.) Additionally our reports will continue to show address data before the act and these will all be date stamped. A lot needs to be achieved in a short space of time but ICC is committed to putting resource into all aspects of its product portfolio (online, bulk or API) to ensure we can provide accurate content to help you make decisions.

If that last bit was a bit too much like a sales pitch I apologise. Should you wish to remonstrate with me and my blatant marketing you know where I live...