South African FICA Act Published including New Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Requirements

On 2 May 2017, South Africa published the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment Act, 2017 (FICA Act) in the Official Gazette. According to an announcement from the South African Presidency, measures in the Amendment Act include:

• Requiring the identification of beneficial owners to prevent natural persons from misusing legal entities for nefarious purposes like evading tax;
• Enhancing the customer due diligence requirements that will ensure that entities fully understand the nature and pot…