Setting up a business in the UK is one of the biggest hurdles a company can face. According to research conducted by Umazi, the research and findings draw on polling data from 500 UK-based SMEs operating within Finance, professional services, and technology – including accountancy firms, law firms, and tech and fintech startups. The research was commissioned in February 2025 to gain a current snapshot of the verification challenges and fraud risks facing UK businesses today.

Key findings include

• Business setup remains burdensome: while registering a company may appear simple, 44% of UK businesses report that verification processes are still highly manual, time-consuming, and inefficient
• Onboarding friction is blocking SME access to finance:

       - Over 40% of SME finance applicants submit eight or more separate verification documents

       - 22% endure rejections or additional information requests – half due to “insufficient history”

       - 95% believe a secure digital identity vault would have simplified or accelerated their funding journey

• An unforgiving economic climate: top challenges businesses expect in 2025 include increased taxation (46%), rising cost of living (42%), high inflation (42%), and growing operational costs (31%)
• Barriers to growth and finance: 30% of businesses report difficulty accessing funding, often due to the lengthy and duplicative verification requirements during onboarding and lending processes
• Companies House alone isn’t enough: while Companies House plays a central role in company registration, it does not verify the legitimacy or control of a business, leaving the door open to impersonation and shell companies
• Broken onboarding processes: inconsistent business verification procedures across financial services and supply chains create friction, increase costs, and delay partnerships
• The growing threat of business identity theft: nearly 70% of businesses are concerned about having their data or identity stolen. 45% say new technologies to reduce identity theft would significantly support their operations
• Perception of limited government support: over 60% of respondents believe there is little government innovation aimed at helping businesses thrive. While 38% acknowledge that initiatives exist, most feel progress is far too slow

Cindy van Niekerk, CEO and Founder of Umazi, commented: “Our research highlights the urgent need for a digital company identity framework that enables fast, trusted, and interoperable verification across sectors. This is not just a fraud issue – it’s a barrier to growth, efficiency, and economic confidence.

“FinTech’s have solved real-time payments; now it’s time to solve real-time trust. By plugging Umazi’s continuously verified credentials into existing KYC/AML stacks, providers cut onboarding from weeks to minutes, free analysts for higher-value work, and open underserved SME segments.”

Umazi’s latest whitepaper, ‘Broken ID, Broken Growth: The UK’s Verification Chokehold’, calls for a unified, secure, and scalable approach to verifying company identities – arguing that digital company IDs will play a pivotal role in protecting the UK economy, reducing fraud, and restoring trust across supply chains and financial services.

Key benefits for financial institutions: 

• Rising KYC/AML overhead: achieve up to 70% process-cost reduction through straight-through processing
• Drop-off during onboarding: improve customer conversion rates and reduce customer acquisition costs
• Regulatory scrutiny: gain an immutable audit trail and enable real-time sanctions and watch-list monitoring

Van Niekerk continued: “Despite increasing regulation, criminals continue to exploit gaps in the system by impersonating businesses or setting up fraudulent entities with ease. Unlike individuals, companies in the UK currently have no standardised form of digital identity – and this gap is being exploited.”

Umazi’s research makes a compelling case for the urgent implementation of a Digital Company Identity system – one that is secure, scalable, and interoperable across sectors. As the UK faces rising levels of economic crime and increasing pressure on businesses, the need for a trusted, technology-driven solution has never been greater.

Van Niekerk concludes: “With the tools, regulatory momentum, and industry support already taking shape, now is the time for coordinated action. By adopting a national DCI framework, the UK can take a decisive step toward restoring trust, improving efficiency, and safeguarding its economic future.”