Worldwide: Corporate and Company Law

Seychelles' Financial Services Authority has issued Circular No. 5 of 2026, targeting International Business Companies operating in regulated financial sectors—particularly virtual asset services—without proper licensing. With the IBC Amendment Bill advancing through the National Assembly and a critical ESAAMLG evaluation approaching, the FSA is signaling that passive oversight has ended and formal enforcement against non-compliant entities is imminent.

Nigeria's Revenue Service has issued comprehensive guidelines establishing a uniform framework for taxing virtual assets and cryptocurrency transactions. The new rules adopt a substance-over-form approach, focusing on the economic nature of digital asset transactions rather than their technical labels. These guidelines clarify tax treatment, compliance obligations, and administrative procedures for all persons engaged in virtual asset activities under Nigerian law.

Nigeria's merger approval framework has evolved from a fragmented system under CAMA 2020 and ISA 2007 to a comprehensive competition-based regime under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018. This analysis examines whether the Corporate Affairs Commission could have administered competition reviews, why sector regulators retain parallel jurisdiction, and what institutional reforms would resolve the resulting coordination challenges.

Family businesses are the quiet engine of the global economy, accounting for a large share of the jobs and output of almost every country on earth. Yet they share one stubborn weakness: most do not outlive the people who build them. Studies of family enterprises find repeatedly that only a minority survive into the second generation, and fewer into the third.1 The problem is rarely a lack of talent or ambition. It is a lack of structure.

In 2017, a discovery in Nigeria's North-East unsettled the country: relief materials meant for families displaced by conflict had allegedly been diverted and were turning up for sale in open markets. It was a blunt reminder that generosity, on its own, guarantees nothing. Comparable concerns — that charitable platforms can be exploited for illicit financing, including terrorist financing — have surfaced both in Nigeria and across the world.

Nigeria has taken another significant step towards bringing virtual assets, cryptocurrency businesses and blockchain-enabled financial services within a more coordinated regulatory framework. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's Presidential Executive Order on Virtual Assets Coordination, 2026 should not be viewed as another attempt to prohibit digital assets. Nor does it replace the existing powers of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigeria Revenue Service or other relevant agencies.

King V's governance framework is widely misunderstood as a rigid rulebook requiring uniform compliance, when it is actually designed as a flexible, principles-based system. This analysis examines the three-tiered structure of outcomes, principles, and recommended practices, explaining why the "apply and explain" disclosure regime prioritizes contextual application and meaningful results over mechanical box-ticking exercises.

South African Competition Law Updates...

In today's digital economy, data has emerged as one of the most valuable corporate assets. Businesses routinely collect, process, store, and transfer vast amounts of personal information relating to customers, employees, contractors, and other stakeholders. While corporate governance discussions have focused on financial performance, regulatory compliance, board effectiveness, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations, data protection has often been treated as a purely technical or operational concern.