South Africa has unveiled significant legislative reforms aimed at strengthening its ability to detect, disrupt and penalise individuals responsible for money laundering, terrorist financing and other illicit financial flows. These proposals are part of an updated Draft General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill, 2025, published by the National Treasury for public comment.
The draft bill builds on earlier AML/CFT reforms and is designed to close remaining gaps in South Africa’s financial crime framework before its next evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Key features include:
- Expanded powers for the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) to collect and share financial intelligence with law enforcement and other authorities.
- Stronger beneficial ownership transparency requirements to help identify the real individuals behind complex corporate structures often used to hide illicit funds.
- Tighter oversight of non-profit and non-governmental organisations, recognising their potential misuse for terror financing if not properly regulated.
- Updated provisions in multiple laws, including the FIC Act, Companies Act, Financial Sector Regulation Act and Nonprofit Organisations Act, to reinforce South Africa’s AML/CFT regime.
These reforms follow South Africa’s recent removal from the FATF “grey list” and reflect an ongoing commitment to internationally aligned standards for combating financial crime and protecting the integrity of the financial system.
More information can be found on the following media statement released under the National Treasury of South African government:
National-Treasury-media-statement-–-General-Laws-Amendment-Bill-2025.pdf