Registrar of Companies

Registrar of Companies
Incumbent	Vacant
Organisation	Department for Business and Trade
Keeps	The register of companies
Website	companieshouse.ukogb.co.uk

The Registrar of Companies keeps the register of companies at Companies House, part of the Department for Business and Trade. Every company in UKOGB, from a one-person business to an investment bank such as Hopkins PLC, exists because it is on the register.

The register

To start a company, its founders apply to Companies House with its name, its directors and what it will do. The Registrar, with the Business Secretary, reviews the application and, if it is in order, incorporates the company and gives it a company number and a date of incorporation. Later changes, such as new directors, a new name or the issue of shares, are filed with the Registrar too, so each company has a public history that anyone can read at companieshouse.ukogb.co.uk.

Public companies

A company that wants to sell its shares to the public can list on the London Stock Exchange, where trading is overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority.