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At this year’s Corporate Registers Forum (CRF) 2025 in Tunis, Tunisia, one truth became impossible to overlook: business registries are no longer quiet keepers of company data. They are expected to detect misconduct, prevent financial crime, verify ownership, and share data seamlessly across borders – all while keeping business registration fast and frictionless. The world wants integrity and efficiency, and registries are caught in the middle.

The New Reality: Balancing Supervision and Service

Registries today operate under extraordinary pressure. They are expected to serve as both guardians of transparency and facilitators of entrepreneurship. That dual role is proving increasingly difficult. Governments are demanding tougher enforcement and data verification, while businesses are asking for simpler, faster processes.

From Tunisia’s prevention-first model and the UK’s intelligence-led enforcement approach to Malaysia’s fully digital beneficial ownership system, speakers at CRF described the same struggle: how to maintain transparency without suffocating business activity.

This tension defines the modern registry. It must act like an investigator but think like a service provider – and that requires new tools, new thinking, and new partnerships.

The Hard Truth: Questions Every Modern Registry Must Answer

Data Credibility

Compliance rates may look impressive, but accuracy is often another story. Beneficial ownership (BO) information can be incomplete, outdated, or unverifiable, leaving gaps that weaken transparency and enforcement. The global shift is clear: from mere data collection to data verification – from ticking boxes to proving truth.

Fragmented Systems

Business operates globally, but registries often remain trapped within national silos. Without interoperability between registries, tax authorities, financial intelligence units, and international partners, oversight stops at the border. Incompatible standards and isolated systems prevent the seamless transparency that the modern economy demands.

Identity and Access

Verifying who truly owns or controls a company has become one of the most complex tasks for modern registries. Digital identity systems and biometric verification are transforming how individuals are authenticated, reducing fraud and strengthening the accuracy of registry data.

At the same time, questions of data access are becoming increasingly sensitive. New “legitimate interest” models aim to balance public transparency with personal privacy, defining who can see ownership information and under what conditions. The challenge is clear: registries must enable openness that builds trust, while maintaining the protection and legal compliance that safeguard individual rights.

AI and Accountability

Artificial intelligence is beginning to transform how registries operate – from detecting suspicious ownership patterns and flagging high-risk entities to automating data validation and improving service efficiency. Used wisely, AI can help identify anomalies faster, reduce manual workloads, and strengthen oversight.

However, as automation becomes more powerful, registries must also ensure that it remains responsible and transparent. AI decisions need to be explainable and subject to human review, ensuring that technology supports fairness rather than replacing judgment. The goal is not to let algorithms decide, but to help people decide better.

Communication Gaps

Even the most well-intentioned reforms can fail if stakeholders don’t understand them. When institutions focus on rules instead of reasons, change feels imposed rather than inclusive. Effective reform depends on communication that informs, involves, and builds trust – not just compliance.

Capacity and Funding

Expectations are rising, but resources often aren’t. New mandates demand expertise in technology, law, analytics, and communication – yet many registries still operate with limited staff and budgets. Sustainable modernization requires not just software, but skills, leadership, and institutional resilience.

Smart Solutions for the New Era of Registry Governance

As registries around the world strive to modernize, the real question isn’t whether change is needed – it’s how to make it work in practice. This is where NRD Companies helps governments and registry authorities turn ambition into implementation.

With decades of experience in registry digitalization, NRD Companies delivers both the technology and the expertise to transform how registries operate, communicate, and serve. Our approach combines modern platforms with strategic consultancy, ensuring reforms are not only compliant but also sustainable and future-proof.

At the heart of our offering is the Unified Registry Platform (URP©) – a configurable, low-code solution designed to support all types of registers, from business and beneficial ownership to licensing and secured transactions. URP© provides a single, scalable foundation for digital transformation, enabling institutions to start with one registry and expand to others seamlessly. Its built-in interoperability layer connects registries with tax, identity, and financial intelligence systems, promoting cross-agency collaboration and transparency.

Beyond technology, NRD Companies provides strategic consultancy and implementation services that guide clients through every stage of transformation – from assessing legal and institutional readiness to designing digital-governance frameworks and managing change. Our consultants work closely with policymakers and registry leaders to ensure reforms are grounded in local realities, compliant with global standards, and aligned with long-term development goals.

NRD Companies places strong emphasis on capacity building and knowledge transfer, ensuring that digital transformation creates long-term value rather than short-term dependency. By training local teams, strengthening institutional governance, and embedding operational best practices, NRD Companies helps registries develop the in-house expertise needed to manage, adapt, and continuously improve their systems. The goal is not simply to implement new technology, but to empower institutions to sustain progress confidently and independently.

From Pressure to Progress

The global demand for transparency isn’t slowing down – and neither can registries. The world expects them to verify faster, share wider, and act smarter. But with the right technology and partnerships, this pressure can become progress.

At NRD Companies, we believe transparency and efficiency can coexist. By embedding intelligence, interoperability, and integrity into every registry process, we help governments turn compliance into trust – and registries into the modern gatekeepers the global economy now depends on.