The world of finance has changed, and continues to change. Not just from a technical or functional point of view, but from a cultural one as well. The relationship between financial companies and members of the public, who are their customers after all, has suffered enormously in recent years. A series of high-profile banking scandals, the global economic crisis, and a level of access to information like never before has led to a huge lack of trust. Trust that the finance sector is now working hard to win back.

The word of the moment is ‘transparency’. If banks and other financial service institutions want to restore their standing with their stakeholders, their customers and the public in general, they need to do more than just act honestly and with integrity. They need to do so in a very clear and open way so people can see this is more than just talk, and is in fact a genuine cultural shift.

It doesn’t stop with the banks either. As financial institutions evolve their approach, the expectation on all corporations and privately owned businesses is changing as well. Corporate tax avoidance has been the subject of numerous headlines over the past few years and several big organisations have suffered major reputational damage as a result.

Conversely, other organisations are capitalising on this situation and using the lessons learnt to enjoy some significant success. Company Check and DueDil are two websites that take the data from Companies House and make it accessible through search engines. The data was always there, but thanks to the functionality they provide combined with a newfound public appetite to know more, it is now easier than ever to search and analyse.

Even Companies House has got in on the act, and has itself introduced free access to its entire database, a source of an absolutely staggering amount of data with over 170 million digital references about companies, and their directors and financial dealings.

Simply put, anyone who wants to know more about the financial institutions and corporations they are connected with has unprecedented opportunities and tools to do exactly that.