In a bid to crack down on abuse, the introduction of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) has given Companies House new powers to require user identification documents and higher fees for registration, but there is still ‘growing concern’ that criminals are easily able to use the UK business environment to move illegal money in and out of the UK.

One of the key risk areas was identified as money laundering with Companies House flagging that certain businesses are most vulnerable to misuse by criminals. This includes accountancy firms, which make up nearly half (45%) of the AML-supervised business population, with 48,000 regulated firms.