KYB structure — directors, BOs, Companies House — Certivus Help

How to populate a company client's beneficial-owner register straight from Companies House data, then verify and link each one.

Where you do it

Open the company profile → Activity tab → Reports sub-tab (the Companies House Related Parties section).

If the company has a Companies House number on its profile, this section will offer to fetch the live officers + PSC list.

The workflow

1. Fetch from Companies House

Click Refresh to pull the latest officers and persons with significant control (PSCs) from the official Companies House register. Results are cached per firm.

2. Import each party as a BO

Every active officer/PSC row now has an Import as BO button. Clicking it:

Splits the name into first/last (Companies House mostly returns "SURNAME, Forename" for officers).
Sets owner_type = individual.
Copies the role into control_nature (e.g. "Director", "PSC with significant influence").
Sets is_psc = true if the CH role indicates it.
Defaults verification_status to pending, PEP/sanctions to unknown — you confirm these on the BO card.
Adds a note timestamping the import source.

If a BO with the same display name already exists on the file, the button is replaced by an Imported as BO chip — no duplicates.

3. Confirm + verify on the BO card

Open the Overview tab → Beneficial Owners card. The newly-imported BO row appears with:

The imported display name and role.
A blank verification status (yours to action).
A blank ownership %.
Per-row evidence upload.
The Phase 50 Link to client affordance — if this person is also one of your individual clients, link them in one click.

You complete the BO record by:

Adding the ownership percentage (CH doesn't always disclose this precisely — use the PSC statement).
Uploading identity evidence.
Running an AML screen on the BO.
Marking verification as verified once you're satisfied.

What's NOT in this phase

Auto-fill ownership % — CH PSC statements are categorical ("25-50%", "over 75%"), not exact figures. You enter the precise value yourself.
Auto-link to existing individual clients — by design. The link is a deliberate operator decision (Phase 50), not a fuzzy guess. Use the Link to client button on the BO row after import.
Sync of resignations / changes — re-importing a CH party that's already on file is blocked. To reflect a CH change (e.g. officer resigned), edit the BO row directly or remove + re-add.
Group structure / parent companies — listed as a future enhancement. Today a company stands alone in its compliance file.
Company credit reports — deferred to a separate PRD when a provider is chosen.

Why the manual confirmation step

Auto-importing without operator review would create:

Defensibility gaps (no audit trail of why this person was classified as a BO).
Stale data risk (CH can lag changes by weeks).
Cross-firm leakage of unverified PII.

The one-click import + manual confirmation strikes the right balance: operator-effort minimised but the file stays auditor-defensible.