Top finance tips: “Confidential” marking on security documents

Our Banking & Finance experts have together a series of top tips. The first looks at data protection and ‘confidential’ marking on security documents.

We also examine late entering into security documents and Chattel mortgages.

Land Registry:

• The Land Registry have confirmed that when registering security documents, confidential information needs to be redacted from every document, or an application made to have the security document registered as an exempt document.

Debentures at Companies House:

• Should internal processes for registering debentures have a requirement to redact personal information of witnesses, and in some cases account details, to avoid a potential breach of GDPR legislation?
• Although it is relatively difficult to stumble across this information on Companies House, the impact on individuals if found is significant.
• The question of whether or not to inform individuals is separate to notifying the ICO of a breach. In certain situations, because of the potential consequences of fraud, which may be possible using particular disclosed information, a communication with the affected individuals may be required.
• It is possible to gain a clear picture on whether data has been accessed, as Companies House are able to inform how many times (if any) the documents have been viewed or downloaded, which would inform the likelihood of the data being misused. Then, steps can be taken to mitigate the impact. In any event, communication with the affected individuals should be reassuring.
• It may be advisable to initially consult Companies House hotline, who are used to handling these sorts of concerns – a fact worth being aware of!