Handshakes rolls out tool for quick check on company owners

Singapore

FINANCIAL technology firm DC Frontiers, developer of the Handshakes data analysis app, has launched a search tool for a quick and safe way to access accurate information on shareholders of companies.

The tool, developed with the support of the Singapore Association of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (SAICSA) and powered by company registry data from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), could be the first of such mechanism available in Singapore and Asia, said DC Frontiers in a statement.

The Handshakes application provides access in a "single click" to information on legal beneficial ownership (LBO) of companies versus having to purchase multiple reports to extract and collate such information.

The intelligent LBO algorithm thoroughly searches a subject's known connections and identifies all persons and companies with direct and indirect interests in the subject within the datasets.

"Our application was developed to provide easy and reliable access to relationship information between persons and companies," said DC Frontiers founding director Daryl Neo, in a statement.

"This new tool enhances our product suite to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of users for conducting such searches on ownership information that traverse documents and also countries," he added.

It also supports wider efforts to promote greater transparency, said SAICSA chief executive Grace Tan.

Handshakes is the brainchild of two former Singapore Exchange (SGX) regulators, Charles Poon and Daryl Neo.

Essentially, it draws relationship maps in the capital markets to reveal all past and present associations that any person has had with others - all in one browser window.

The firm drew its first institutional investor, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), which pumped in S$2 million for a 20 per cent stake in March this year.