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FirstLink Appoints Mark Hargreaves as CEO

FirstLink is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Hargreaves as Chief Executive Officer.

With over 26 years of experience in the business data industry, including 18 years at Experian, Mark brings deep expertise in commercial, product, and strategic development. In his career he has had a particular focus on and passion for international business data for credit risk assessment, financial crime prevention, and Know Your Business (KYB) compliance.

Mark has led cross-functional teams and delivered impactful strategies across multiple industries. He brings a leadership style that combines sharp operational insight with a strong client focus, positioning him perfectly to lead FirstLink’s unique offering into a dynamic and rapidly expanding market.

“I’m excited to join FirstLink at such a pivotal time,” said Mark. “As a fresh and innovative player, we have a real opportunity to redefine how organisations verify who they do business with — helping them build trust and meet growing regulatory compliance requirements with greater ease and confidence.”

As regulatory expectations continue to rise and cross-border business increasingly becomes the norm, the demand for fast, reliable, and scalable compliance solutions will only intensify.

“I believe the future lies in empowering organisations with self-service tools that deliver key operational insights while reducing friction and cost. FirstLink is uniquely positioned to meet that need, combining trusted global data with smart technology to simplify compliance and build business confidence at scale,” Mark said.

Based in the UK with his wife Melissa and family, Mark leads an active life outside of work, enjoying tennis, skiing, swimming, singing in his local choir, and contributing to community initiatives.

FirstLink’s digital platform delivers reliable global business verification, Customer Due Diligence (CDD), supply chain verification, financial crime, and compliance solutions. We help organisations meet KYB and AML obligations through access to extensive global data and streamlined tools, via a user-friendly portal or API. FirstLink enables smarter, faster, and safer business decisions across borders.

Trust you can verify

Live, direct-to-registry business data where available in the jurisdiction. Pull ‘as-filed’ legal documents including registry extracts, certificates, and director/shareholder lists.

Built for cross-border reality

Global coverage including primary Australian trade corridors, including US, UK, India, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia.

Simple and cost-effective

Self-serve portal with no technical integration or long contract required. Pay-as-you-go, so costs track actual deal volume.

Evidence you can cite

Each check includes a downloadable report. If a registry outputs XML/JSON format, FirstLink will take care of that for you and convert it to a PDF with provenance, so reviewers can store and share it easily.

Preparing for Tranche 2 without slowing deals

Australia is moving to extend AML/CTF obligations to professional services, including real estate agencies. The operational themes are familiar: Customer Due Diligence/Know Your Business (CDD/KYB) for business counter-parties, Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) identification, risk screening, and record-keeping.

Here is how an agency can align now, while keeping workflows lean:

 

  • Adopt a standard KYB pack for business entities
    For any vendor, buyer, or landlord that is a company or trust with a corporate trustee, run a FirstLink check and save the report plus any as-filed documents in the deal/PM file. This becomes your baseline evidence.
  • Capture the Global UBO and control in plain language
    Record who ultimately owns or controls the entity, even when the business goes cross-border and how you established that (e.g., registry extract, filings). Keep the explanation short and traceable.
  • Screen early and log resolutions
    Run sanctions/PEP/adverse media checks on the entity and relevant controllers at listing/offer. If a potential match appears, note the rationale for resolving it. This avoids back-and-forth at settlement.
  • Keep an audit-ready trail
    Store the FirstLink report, documents, and your one-paragraph decision note with date. This forms the nucleus of an AML/CTF-ready file and shortens any internal or external review.

Roles, responsibilities, and handoffs inside an agency

Listing agent/Business Development Manager: Triggers vendor KYB at instruction stage; attaches report to listing authority.

Sales admin/deals desk: Triggers buyer KYB when a corporate offer or EOI arrives; files report with contract pack.

Property manager onboarding: Verifies landlord business entities before management agreements are signed; enables monitoring on higher-risk files.

Principal/compliance lead: Reviews exceptions, approves edge-case decisions, defines refresh cadence, and owns audit readiness.

General Business Supplier Procurement: Like any business you will need to undertake supply chain verification checks on any business providing products and services into your offices.

This division keeps KYB tasks close to the operational moment while giving compliance and regulatory clear oversight.

 

What success looks like with FirstLink

Faster time to list
Vendor authority checked and filed on day one.

Fewer settlement delays
Buyer entity and controllers verified at offer, not at the eleventh hour.

Lower rework
Standard reports with sources reduce follow-ups from conveyancers and banks.

Audit-ready files
Clear trail of what was checked, when, and why.

Cost control
Pay-as-you-go checks align spend with actual deal flow; no idle seats.

Getting started

You do not need to re-engineer your business. Add one dependable step where it matters and keep deals moving.

Create a Free FirstLink Account today