National Treasury has published the draft General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill, 2025 for public comment.
The draft Bill is an updated version of the previous draft General Laws Amendment Bill that was published in December 2024. National Treasury has expanded the draft Bill with additional proposals aimed at further strengthening South Africa’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) framework.
These proposed amendments are intended to better prepare the country for the next Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Mutual Evaluation, scheduled to commence in mid-2026 and conclude in October 2027.
The draft Amendment Bill proposes changes to four pieces of legislation, namely the:
- Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001
- Financial Sector Regulation Act, 2017
- Companies Act, 2008
- Nonprofit Organisations Act, 1997
The proposed amendments to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) Act introduce a range of significant changes. These include the introduction of new and expanded definitions, such as lifestyle audit, public entity, Public Procurement Office, and Border Management Authority. A key development is the formal introduction of lifestyle audits, which enable the FIC to assess whether an individual’s standard of living is consistent with their legitimate income.
The amendments also expand the objectives and information-sharing powers of the FIC, including the ability to share information obtained through lifestyle audits and to produce forensic financial evidence. In addition, the Centre is granted broader access to records and information, allowing it to request information from any organ of state, public entity, or municipality, including access to relevant databases and registers. Record-keeping requirements are extended, with retention periods increased from five to seven years.
Further changes strengthen the Risk Management and Compliance Programme and customer due diligence requirements by obligating accountable institutions to assess the risks associated with new products, services, delivery mechanisms. This includes the use of new or developing technologies that may facilitate money laundering, terrorist financing, or proliferation financing activities, and to address these risks in their compliance programmes. Targeted financial sanctions obligations are also expanded, allowing the FIC to issue notices of designated entities pursuant to High Court orders under the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act (POCDATARA), to authorise the release of funds for extraordinary expenses, and to permit interest to accrue on prohibited property where it predates a United Nations designation. Accountable institutions are additionally required to report attempted transactions, including enquiries or attempted dealings by designated persons.
The amendments enhance protections for individuals who make reports or comply with the Act and align data protection and information-sharing provisions with the requirements of the Protection of Personal Information Act.
The proposed changes to the Financial Sector Regulation Act (FSRA) strengthen enforcement and licensing powers. They expand the regulatory scope to cover arrangements that are similar in nature or outcome to financial products and services, regardless of the technology used. The changes also enhance regulatory powers by allowing authorities to obtain information from significant and beneficial owners to institute investigations where a contravention is suspected, and to require financial institutions to be licensed even if they are already licensed under other legislation. In addition, certain “master agreement” transactions, as defined in the Insolvency Act, are excluded from specific regulatory requirements.
Amendments to the Companies Act focus on strengthening beneficial ownership compliance, including powering the Companies And Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) to deregister companies that fail to submit securities registers or beneficial ownership registers for two consecutive years, empowering the CIPC to impose administrative penalties for non-compliance and creating a right to apply for review of administrative fines by the Companies Tribunal.
Key proposed changes to the Nonprofit Organisations (NPO) Act include, expanding the Directorate’s functions to monitor and enforce NPO compliance, the introduction of administrative sanctions and an expanded appeal mechanism to be handled by an Arbitration Tribunal and increasing penalties, including a maximum fine of R1 million and/or imprisonment of up to five years for offences.
The draft amendments were open for public comment until 13 February 2026; however, National Treasury has issued a media statement confirming that the deadline was extended to 2 March 2026.
National Treasury, in collaboration with the Department of Social Development, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, the FIC, the FSCA and the Prudential Authority (PA), will consider written comments on the draft Amendment Bill.
Following consideration and incorporation of stakeholder feedback, the revised Bill will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval before being tabled in Parliament.
View additional documents by clicking on the links below:
- Media Statement – General Laws Amendment Bill
- Media Statement – Deadline extension for Draft General Finance Laws public comments
- Gazette 53955 National Treasury AML-CTF