We are pleased and excited to bring to your attention the first virtual CRF Conference!
The virtual conference is a free event to CRF members and will be hosted by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) will be held online over the 9th, 10th and 11th November 2021.
Our hosts have prepared for what will be a very informative and insightful conference under the theme of ‘Ease of Doing Business; The role of Corporate Registries’
For more information visit the Virtual Conference Page
The Corporate Registers Forum (CRF) announces that Rosanne Bell, CRF President, will be stepping down from the role from 1 August 2021.
Rosanne has a long association with the CRF and has held roles on the Executive Committee for many years (since 2007) prior to her appointment as CRF President in 2017. On behalf of the CRF, the CRF Executive Committee wish to thank Rosanne for the important role she has played in CRF with nearly 14 continuous years as a valued Executive Committee member and for the last 4 years as our inspirational President.
We wish Rosanne all the best in her future endeavours.
The Executive Committee has appointed Louise Smyth (Chief Executive, Registrar of Companies, Companies House, United Kingdom) as transitional President to take over from Rosanne.
Louise Smyth will hold the position of President until the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in November 2021 where CRF members will be asked to vote on a replacement in accordance with the CRF’s constitution.
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The Corporate Registers Forum (CRF) Community wishes Ada Chung, the former Registrar of Companies for Hong Kong, all the very best in her new role as Hong Kong’s new privacy commissioner. Ms Chung has served on the CRF Executive since 2007 in the capacity of Treasurer. Ms Chung also hosted the 2017 CRF Annual Conference in Hong Kong.
Ms Chung has been a strong supporter of the CRF as an organisation and a generous participant in our conferences and strategy.
Ms Ada Chung is a barrister-at-law and a Certified Public Accountant. She was appointed as the Registrar of Companies of Hong Kong in August 2007 and has since been heavily involved in the rewrite of the Companies Ordinance, the implementation of the new Companies Ordinance and the introduction of electronic company incorporation and electronic filing of company information in Hong Kong.
As a representative of the Financial Secretary, Ms Chung is an ex-officio council member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She also sits on the Financial Reporting Council. Before her appointment as the Registrar, she was a Deputy Law Officer and headed the Civil Litigation Unit of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice.
Ms Chung takes up the role of privacy commissioner from 4 September 2020.
[Photo kindly supplied by the Hong Kong Companies Registry]
The Corporate Registers Forum will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday 28th October 2020 at 09:00:00 UTC.
In light of the current global Covid-19 pandemic, the AGM will be held via Zoom.
In preparation for the AGM members are invited to:
Note that members must register to attend the AGM by emailing secretariat@corporateregistersforum.org, including details of (a) name of jurisdiction and (b) jurisdiction representative no later than Friday 16th October 2020. You should also include in the registration email any members of your jurisdiction that will attend with you as observers. After registration closes, the Secretariat will email details of the virtual platform including details of login credentials, meeting protocols etc.
If you are unable to attend the AGM in person you will be encouraged to submit a proxy to help meet quorum requirements. Proxy instructions and voting forms will be emailed out on 18th September 2020 and will need to be returned to secretariat@corporateregistersforum.org by Friday 16th October 2020.
Members attending the AGM will also need to complete voting forms that will be emailed out on 18th September 2020 and will need to be returned to secretariat@corporateregistersforum.org by Friday 16th October 2020.
For those who don’t use Zoom there is a free version you can download to participate in the AGM, see https://zoom.us/
The CRF Innovation Awards celebrate the spirit of innovation and honours CRF jurisdictions which have successfully put in place world-class initiatives, as well as those which have creatively implemented customised solutions, to make a real difference to their stakeholders. There are two categories of awards: CRF Innovation Award (Excellence) and CRF Innovation Award (Commendation).
The awards are open to CRF members only. All members are highly encouraged to submit an entry using the attached Submission Form found here:
All entries submitted will be judged by a panel made up of members of the CRF Executive Committee. A total of five prizes, of up to USD $500.00 will be given out at the annual CRF conference.
Award recipients will be notified in Jan 2021. And to promote the sharing of information, they will be asked to present their initiative to CRF members at the conference and contribute an article to the CRF newsletter.
Over the last few weeks, the coronavirus Covid-19 has emerged as an unforeseen threat. These are truly unprecedented times across the entire world, with most countries heavily impacted by border restrictions.
Within this context, our CRF Executive Committee has adopted the following CRF policy regarding the organisation of meetings and events across the organisation.
CRF Policy – Meetings and Events (COVID-19)
The CRF Executive will continue to meet on a regular basis via telephone or video. We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation.
We have made the decision to postpone our annual conference in Uganda until 2021. We will communicate in due course re-scheduled conference details and dates.
We are now looking at options for holding our annual general meeting by other means, we will communicate how and when that will occur in the near future
As members of an extended registry family, we are investigating ways to stay connected during these trying times and learn from each other’s experiences , challenges and innovations that COVID-19 may have presented to your registry.
Please email secretariat@corporateregistersforum.org with your experiences and we can look to share them through our newsletter or other means.
Finally on behalf of the CRF Executive, I hope that you remain healthy and stay safe during these challenging times.
Rosanne Bell
CRF President
The CRF is delighted to announce the dates for the 2020 CRF Conference will be the 14th to 18th September 2020.
The conference theme will be Ease of Doing Business: The role of Corporate Registries
The Conference will be held at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, Kampala –Uganda.
More details will follow and will be posted on the Conference Page.
The CRF annual conference is always a highlight of the year for our members. It is the only time when we all join together, share our experiences and can really learn from each other on new developments and what has worked well within the business registry arena.
Over the years, I am always fascinated by what I learn and hear at our conferences and amazed at how quickly advancements are being made and the diverse nature as to how business registries operate and perform across the world.
The success of each conference, in large, is down to the early planning and thinking that needs to take place in advance so that ideas can start to take shape, allowing ample lead time to work through the detail.
In order for the location of the 2021 conference to be agreed, the CRF executive is currently seeking expressions of interest and or accepting applications from member jurisdictions who would be interested in hosting the annual conference. All member jurisdictions are eligible to apply.
As a host nation, you will have the opportunity to put together an exciting, interesting and engaging programme and showcase/raise the profile of your registry.
Interested member jurisdictions can find more information via this link Guide to Hosting the Annual Conference with further enquiries made to our secretariat at secretariat@corporateregistersforum.org
I would encourage you if interested to complete the application that can be found at Application to Host a CRF Conference and email your application to secretariat@corporateregistersforum.org by Friday 28th February 2020.
The executive would like to announce to members our host for 2021 by end of April 2020.
Kind regards,
Rosanne Bell
President of CRF
Executive Director, Registry – Australian Securities and Investments Commission
We are delighted to announce that the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) have been selected to host the CRF Annual Conference 2020.
The conference will be held in Kampala the capital of Uganda.
The CRF Executive are working with the URSB on the venue, theme and program of events and will in due course provide additional information.
A firm date is yet to be agreed but we will be aiming to have the conference in either August or September 2020.
Watch this website, follow us on Twitter (@CorpRegForum) or Facebook for more details.
We are delighted to announce that registration for the CRF 2019 Conference is now open.
