Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) commissioner Rory Voller has called for the commission’s beneficial ownership register to be opened to the public instead of being reserved for law enforcement agencies as is now the case.
Under existing law the agencies have to apply for access to the data on beneficial ownership which establishes the ultimate owners of legal persons such as companies and trusts. These owners can often be hidden behind complex corporate structures that can conceal money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Replying to questions by MPs during an engagement with parliament’s trade, industry & competition committee on the CIPC’s performance in the first three quarters of 2025/26 Voller said: “It is my view and it is a global view that everybody should have access to the data. The reason for having anti-money-laundering legislation is that people should be able to see who owns what. I would propagate that there be an amendment. It should be an open register.”
DA spokesperson on trade, industry & competition Toby Chance agreed on the need for transparency and questioned why former trade, industry & competition minister Ebrahim Patel wanted to keep this information secret. “Opening up the register would provide investigative journalists with a goldmine,” he added.
The requirement to report beneficial ownership details was introduced in the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Terrorism Financing) Act of 2022 in response to observations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that South Africa’s beneficial ownership regime was seriously deficient. This made the country vulnerable to money-laundering and the financing of terrorism.
This was one of the reasons the international watchdog that imposes global standards for the combating of money-laundering and financing of terrorism decided to greylist South Africa in February 2023. FATF removed South Africa from the list in October 2025.
The CIPC established a beneficial ownership register in 2023 and had to demonstrate to FATF that law enforcement agencies and other regulators had effective access to it for their investigations.
FATF will undertake a further evaluation of South Africa’s conformity with global standards for combating money-laundering and the financing of terrorism later this year to check that the progress the country has made has been sustained.
Voller told MPs that more than 3-million beneficial ownership reports have been filed so far and that this met the FATF standard for coverage. Beneficial ownership reports are filed at the same time as the annual returns submitted to the CIPC. Failure to comply can lead to deregistration.
Proposals in the draft General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill released recently by the National Treasury for public comment would enable the CIPC to fine companies that fail to comply with requirements to submit securities and beneficial ownership registers.
In terms of the proposals, a company that fails to submit a securities register or register of beneficial interest for two years or more consecutively could be fined as much as 10% of its turnover for the period during which it failed to comply with the CIPC’s notice.
The CIPC will also be empowered to deregister a company that fails to submit a securities register within a certain period.
Collaboration
Voller told MPs that other amendments under discussion relate to discrepancy reporting which would allow the CIPC to collaborate for example with banks in cases in which the information filed is not the same.
Voller said the CIPC is engaged in digitising and simplifying its processes to enhance the ease of doing business.
The Companies Tribunal also presented a report to the committee on its first, second and third quarter performance in the 2025/26 financial year during which it dealt with a total of 327 cases, most of which were disposed of within the mandated periods of either 20 or 30 days for unopposed and opposed matters respectively.
Tribunal chair and retired judge Dennis Davis said the tribunal is in a transitional period as in the offing is a legal requirement under the Companies Act, which has to be brought into effect by the department of trade, industry & competition, that gives the tribunal sole mandate — apart from court proceedings — to arbitrate and mediate on company law disputes that he said would eliminate the often exorbitant costs of private arbitration, especially for small and medium enterprises.
Five retired judges have been appointed to supplement the tribunal panel to help with its workload.
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