South Africa: Compliance

South Africa's Financial Intelligence Centre has released an updated sector risk assessment for legal practitioners ahead of the 2027 FATF mutual evaluation, identifying the profession as highly vulnerable to money laundering and terrorist financing abuse. The draft report highlights significant concerns about low regulatory reporting despite high transaction values, widespread cash use, and questions whether legal practitioners are accurately assessing their own compliance risks. With comments due by 14 Ju

The Constitutional Court's decision in BNP Paribas v Competition Commission addresses how South African competition law applies to offshore conduct that affects local markets, examining jurisdictional tests for foreign entities and the evidentiary requirements for proving collusive behavior through informal communications.

South Africa's removal from the FATF grey list marked a significant achievement, but the country now faces a more demanding phase of scrutiny focused on effective enforcement rather than legislative compliance. The Madlanga Commission's findings on alleged corruption within the criminal justice system present both a stark challenge and an opportunity to demonstrate that the country's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing frameworks can hold powerful individuals accountable.

When a shareholder's political exposure becomes a regulatory or reputational risk, businesses often discover they lack the framework to respond effectively. Without pre-agreed exit mechanisms, companies face deadlock...

In February 2026, the Competition Commission executed unannounced searches at four scrap metal companies, seizing documents and interviewing employees without warning.

As the African Continental Free Trade Area accelerates implementation and intra-African trade volumes grow, recent Financial Action Task Force developments highlight both the urgency and complexity...

South Africa's proposed Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill introduces sweeping changes to beneficial ownership compliance, including new discrepancy reporting obligations...

A Gauteng High Court judgment concludes that Bitcoin qualifies as both "capital" and "money" under South Africa's Exchange Control Regulations, raising fundamental questions about how distributed ledger technology...

South Africa's Draft Protected Disclosures Bill, 2026 proposes to replace the current whistleblower protection framework with a more comprehensive regime that extends protection beyond employees, mandates formal internal procedures, and introduces stricter confidentiality controls and retaliation consequences.