ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING, TERRORISM FINANCE ACT NOW IN FORCE

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING, TERRORISM FINANCE ACT NOW IN FORCE

• 31 December 2022
• New Legislation
• SA Legal Academy

Most sections of the recently gazetted General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering & Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act came into effect on 31 December 2022 by presidential proclamation. Provisions in all remaining sections of the amendment Act are scheduled to commence on 1 April 2023 – except for two sub-sections affecting the Property Trust Control Act, 1988.

Regarding the sections now in force, among other things they:

• have significant implications for all institutions accountable to the Financial Intelligence Centre
• introduce substantive changes to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001, as amended (which now redefines the term ‘beneficial owner’ and introduces a category of domestic and foreign persons deemed to be ‘politically exposed’), and
• affect certain provisions in:
  • the Companies Act, 2008, as amended (which now introduces and defines the term ‘affected company’)
  • the Financial Sector Regulation Act, 2017 (which now includes a chapter on beneficial owners), and
  • the Non-Profit Organisations Act, 1997.

Against that backdrop, sections of the Act now in force have implications for, among others:

• the office bearers of registered non-profit organisations
• the investigative division of the Auditor-General
• private-public partnerships formed for the purposes of achieving the objectives of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001, as amended
• the founders of trusts, their beneficiaries and their trustees as provided for in the same legislation
• the procedures to be followed regarding persons and entities identified by the UN Security Council and/or subject to any resolution taken by that body
• an accountable institution’s responsibilities regarding any client whose host country does not allow the implementation of measures prescribed in the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001, as amended, and
• the procedures to be followed by the Minister when adding or removing persons from the Act’s list of those categorised as ‘prominent’ and ‘influential’, as defined in the amendment Act’s new Schedule 3C.

You are referred to the following documents for further information:

• presidential proclamation
• General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering & Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act, 2022

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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