Introduction
The new requirements are due to the General Laws Amendment Act was promulgated in early 2023 bringing in requirements for companies and trust to provide information on beneficial ownership. It amends five different Acts, namely:
- Trust Property Control Act, 1988,
- Nonprofit Organisations Act, 1997,
- Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001,
- Companies Act, 2008 and
- Financial Sector Regulation Act, 2017.
The aim of reporting on beneficial ownership is to develop a comprehensive mechanism to bring transparency to corporate vehicles such as trusts and companies. This will mean additional reporting and recordkeeping requirements for these entities relating to beneficial ownership.
In January 2023 new regulations were issued for trusts concerning new reporting requirements on beneficial interest information. Paragraph 4 of the Regulations contains further details on the reporting requirements for trusts as detailed below.
Beneficial ownership information to be recorded by trustee
4. (1) A trustee must keep a record of the following information relating to each identified beneficial owner of the trust:
(a) The full names;
(b) date of birth;
(c) nationality;
(d) an official identification document number, indicating the type of document and the country of issue;
(e) residential address;
(f) if different from residential address, the beneficial owner’s address for service of notices;
(g) other means of contact;
(h) the grounds on which the person is a beneficial owner of the trust;
(i) the date on which the person became a beneficial owner of the trust; and (j) where applicable, the date on which the person ceased to be a beneficial owner of the trust.
(2) A trustee must keep a certified copy of an official identification document of each identified beneficial owner of the trust, and the information recorded in terms of sub-regulation.
(1) (a) to (e) must appear the same way as it appears on the certified copy of the identification document.’
You can access the Beneficial Ownership Registers Regulations here.
