Category Archives: What’s New

What’s New

CRF Welcomes Tim Moss as its new president

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Tim Moss

Tim Moss has been elected as the new president of the Corporate Registers Forum. Tim is the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales and Chief Executive of Companies House. Tim is serving in an interim role as the first president of the CRF to be elected under the amended constitution adopted at the recent general meeting in Auckland. Tim will serve until the general meeting in Rio 2014. The amendment seeks to separate the role of president from that of conference host enabling the CRF to focus on strategy, growth and service to the membership.  Members input to moving CRF forward is valued, please email Tim or the Secretary your ideas and or feedback.

Tim is the 31st Registrar of Companies for the United Kingdom (a long line that first started back in 1844). Tim joined Companies House in 2002 and spent the first couple of years running the operations and compliance departments before moving into the role of Director of Corporate Strategy. In that role he had a wide portfolio of work including business strategy, corporate policy, marketing, internal audit, corporate communications as well as leading the work on moving to a fully electronic register and service transformation.

Before joining Companies House he spent 12 years in senior operational roles in manufacturing industry. He has a Natural Sciences degree from Cambridge University, an MBA from Swansea University and lives on a farm in South Wales.

Interested in hosting the CRF in 2015 or 2016 ?

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CRF Conference
Expressions of interest to host either the 2015 or 2016 Corporate Registers Forum conference is now open.
If you need more information before making a decision, please refer to the Checklist for Organising a CRF Conference and the CRF Sponsorship Policy or email the Secretariat
To register your interest, simply complete the Application Form, noting which conference you wish to host and return the form via email to the Secretariat no later than 31 August 2013.  All applications will be reviewed by the CRF Executive in September and a decision made on hosting rights shortly thereafter.

CRF2013 Conference Materials and Survey

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Official Delegate Photo CRF 2013

The CRF2013 Conference was a wonderful success.  We have received consistently pleasing feedback from participants as to their satisfaction with the event.

From the quality of the speakers, the venue and the generous hospitality of our New Zealand colleagues the overall response has been very positive.

Please take some time to record your specific feedback in order that the Executive Committee and our hosts for the 2014 event can build a relevant and useful conference for you.   If you were unable to attend we would be interested to learn why.

The survey is online here.

A comprehensive set of presentations, photos and other conference material is now available from the conference page.

A change in Registrars for New Zealand

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As of 1 March 2013 Mandy McDonald will become the Registrar for registers managed by the Companies Office, including the Register of Companies.

                            

 

Neville Harris previously held these roles and is probably best known for his role as the Registrar of Companies which he commenced in 1989.

Mr Harris was a driving force in the creation of the Corporate Registers Forum and attended the first meeting in 2003 along with meetings in Melbourne and Hong Kong.

The New Zealand Companies Office reputation for excellent customer service reflects Mr Harris’s strong commitment to public service transformation. He has been responsible for the vision and implementation of changes to the way we deliver our services. The changes started with the 1993 Companies Act that saw New Zealand become the first companies register in the world to deliver online services in 1996. Since those early exploratory days of online searching, the Companies Office has transformed from a regional paper based operation into the virtually wholly online registry service that it is today. The New Zealand Companies Office is recognised as a world leader in the provision of electronic registry services and this is attributable to Mr Harris’s leadership.

Mr Harris also led the introduction of the Personal Property Securities Register in 2002 which was New Zealand’s first wholly electronic register and underpins one of the most significant commercial law changes of that decade. He has also been responsible for the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, the Insolvency and Trustee Service and the Radio Spectrum Management Service.

Mandy McDonald holds the position of General Manager, Business Integrity Services, Market Services Group, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Prior to her appointment to this position Ms McDonald served as Group Manager of the Insolvency and Trustee Service. She held acting Deputy Secretary roles in the former Ministry of Economic Development in 2011 and 2012 including extended periods running the former MED’s Business Services branch and its Corporate Services branch before and after its transition to MBIE. Prior to her employment with MED and MBIE Ms McDonald held senior management positions at the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defence.

Mandy assumes the role as President of the Corporate Registers Forum and will host the 2013 conference commencing 11 March 2013.

CIPC HOSTS 7 OFFICIALS FROM PACRA

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The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) hosted 7 staff members from the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA), Zambia on an experiential learning programme. The 7 staff members spent time within different sections of the Companies Division at CIPC office from the 18th to the 22nd of February 2013. They were also accorded an opportunity to visit the Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) formerly known as Securities Regulation Panel. 

The objective of the 5 days experiential learning programme was to expose the 7 staff members from PACRA to other registration practices and processes, which may present an opportunity for innovation and enhanced service delivery to their organization. Since the implementation of the new Companies Act, 2008, CIPC has demonstrated commitment to innovation and continuous improvement of customer service.  The organisation is dedicating substantial effort to developing innovative ways to continuously improve its business processes. Innovative projects, such as online registration and scanning are some of the examples that other jurisdiction within Africa can emulate.

Indeed, it is part of the tradition of the Corporate Registers Forum (CRF) to encourage mutual learning and exchange of information among registries in order to bring about positive experience to customers within the business registration landscape. Thus, CIPC also views the visit by officials from PACRA as beneficial to both organisations and as an opportunity to reach out to its counterparts in Africa.

The 7 staff members from PACRA expressed gratitude to the executive and staff members of CIPC for the warmth and courtesy, with which they were treated.  The PACRA Staff Members: Ms Kachenga Chisupa (assistant Inspector), Ms Alice Daka (Assistant Inspector), Ms Namuye Mudenoa (Registration Officer), Mr Lameck Mwenya (Inspector), Mr Chimuka Mweetwa (Inspector), Mr Lloyd Musonda (Inspector) and Mr Perry Mwaba (Assistant Inspector),

For CIPC, the partnership with other similar entities is meaningful and will have long term positive effects.

ACRA hosts Visitors from the Kingdom of Bhutan

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On 10 Sep 2012, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), Singapore hosted officials from the Company Registry Division, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Kingdom of Bhutan. The delegation was keen to learn more about ACRA’s BizFile (online filing and information retrieval portal), regulatory functions, information services for the business community and Singapore’s business legislation reforms. The delegation was led by Mr Karma Yeshey, Registrar of Companies.

The visit was a good opportunity for ACRA officers to forge ties with their counterparts in Bhutan and allowed for a good exchange of experiences and views on areas of common interest.

Ms Juthika Ramanathan and delegation

 

Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) visits Hong Kong Companies Registry

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Mr. Muhammad Musharraf Khan (Additional Registrar), Mr. Muhammad Naeem Khan (Joint Registrar) and 4 other officers were attached to the Hong Kong Companies Registry (CR) for 3 days from 16 to 18 July 2012.

During the attachment, they were briefed on various aspects of work of the CR including company incorporation, public search, enforcement and legal developments.  Ms. Ada Chung, Registrar of Companies of Hong Kong, also briefed the delegation on :

  • Electronic submission services launched at the “e-Registry”, which is a 24-hour portal developed by the CR to facilitate electronic submission of specified forms and other documents.
  • Passage of the new Companies Ordinance (CO), which consists of more than 900 sections and 10 schedules, by the Legislative Council on 12 July 2012.
  • The work plan to make over ten regulations for the new CO and to enhance CR’s information system to facilitate implementation of the new CO.
Registrar of Companies, Hong Kong, met the delegation from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan

Visit by Delegation from the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) from 16 to 18 July 2012 to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority

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In July, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) hosted officers from the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) who visited ACRA to learn more about Singapore’s corporate registration reforms and regulatory functions. The delegation was introduced to ACRA’s award winning BizFile – the online filing and information retrieval portal and also gained a better understanding of ACRA’s enforcement strategies and efforts to promote compliance with statutory requirements and business legislations. The visit was a good opportunity for both sides to get a better understanding of the international developments and trends currently taking place. It was also a chance for ACRA and SECP to renew links as fellow CRF members.   

Delegates from SECP meeting members of ACRA

On the job discussions