The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has removed residential addresses from publicly available company registers, a change enacted to mitigate risks of harassment, fraud and physical danger to directors and other officeholders. The move follows reported concerns raised by the Australian Security Intelligence Agency (ASIA) and direct intervention from Treasurer Jim Chalmers, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Previously, company searches purchased from ASIC’s website included the residential addresses of individuals holding company positions. These details are no longer accessible through those searches, impacting transparency but prioritizing personal safety, officials say.
Joni Henry, a partner specializing in corporate law at Pinsent Masons in Sydney, explained the rationale behind the change. “These long sought-after changes were made to protect the privacy and personal safety of directors and other registered officeholders. This information can be readily found and used for potential fraud or doxxing, which then creates a real-world risk of harassment and physical danger,” she said.
Henry further noted that the alteration aligns Australia with international standards. “This sensible change brings Australia into line with other jurisdictions. Residential addresses of directors are not publicly available in the UK and Recent Zealand passed laws late last year to allow directors to have their residential addresses redacted from the publicly searchable Companies Register due to similar safety and privacy concerns,” she added. According to the Law Society, Joni Marie Henry is a registered foreign lawyer regulated by the SRA in the UK.
While residential addresses have been removed from public view, ASIC will continue to collect this information from directors and require regular updates, alongside the maintenance of director identification numbers. The Treasury is also developing draft legislation to bolster enforcement of these identification and registration requirements.
The change, however, presents challenges for certain sectors. Hannah Griffiths, an expert in insolvency at Pinsent Masons, highlighted potential difficulties for insolvency practitioners. “These changes will create potential challenges for insolvency practitioners. In the meantime, ASIC has agreed to provide the required information in response to direct requests made by insolvency practitioners on court appointed liquidation,” Griffiths stated.
Griffiths warned that the new regulations could impede the timely administration of corporate insolvencies and delay recovery actions. “This change will likely pose a very real and practical impediment to the timely administration of a corporate insolvency by insolvency practitioners and also have the undesirable consequence of delaying the pursuit of recovery actions, enforcement of guarantees and identification of assets in corporate insolvency which will likely pose significant, and unintended, commercial risks for businesses, creditors and financiers that have historically relied on ASIC published data in respect of the whereabouts of officeholders,” she said. She advised businesses, creditors, and financiers to strengthen identity verification processes and enhance security measures in contractual arrangements to mitigate these risks.
Despite the changes, names and other details of officeholders remain publicly accessible on the company register. Law enforcement, regulators, and government agencies, including the Australian Taxation Office, will retain access to the previously restricted residential address information.
