At 34 pages, the draft General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill, 2025 is anything but light reading. Dense and highly technical, it contains material implications that financial industry roleplayers will need to consider carefully.
Published under Notice No. 6997 in Government Gazette 53955 on 14 January, the draft Bill proposes amendments to four key statutes administered by different ministers: the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and the Financial Sector Regulation Act (FSRA), which fall under the Minister of Finance; the Companies Act, administered by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition; and the Nonprofit Organisations Act (NPO Act), overseen by the Minister of Social Development.
Taken together, the proposals amount to a substantial tightening of South Africa’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) framework.
Among the most consequential changes is the expansion of what constitutes a financial product or financial service to include arrangements that are similar in nature or produce similar outcomes to traditional financial products, regardless of the technology used. The Bill also broadens regulators’ powers to require licensing under the FSRA, even where an institution is already licensed under other legislation. It strengthens the regulators’ ability to obtain information directly from significant and beneficial owners and to initiate investigations where there is a reasonable suspicion of non-compliance.
Beyond these headline reforms, the draft Bill introduces a range of technical but far-reaching changes across the AML/CFT framework. These include stricter record-keeping and reporting obligations, expanded information-sharing between regulators and public bodies, enhanced protections for whistleblowers and reporting entities, increased administrative penalties and enforcement powers, and tighter oversight of nonprofit organisations and corporate ownership registers.
According to National Treasury, the measures are designed to close remaining regulatory gaps, enhance supervisory coordination, and keep South Africa’s financial system resilient against evolving money-laundering, terrorist-financing, and proliferation-financing risks.
Why Treasury is proposing the amendments
The 2025 draft Bill builds on an earlier version of the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill that was published for comment in December 2024. Since then, Treasury has expanded the proposals to include additional measures relating to non-governmental organisations and the conducting of lifestyle audits.
According to Treasury, these additions are intended to strengthen South Africa’s AML/CFT system ahead of the country’s next Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Mutual Evaluation, which is scheduled to begin in mid-2026 and conclude in October 2027.
What the Bill changes – in practical terms
Although the draft Bill is highly technical, its proposed amendments can be grouped into several clear themes, each with direct implications for regulated entities.
Greater oversight and enforcement of nonprofit organisations
The amendments to the NPO Act would extend the functions of the NPO Directorate to include formal monitoring and enforcement powers. The Director would be empowered to impose administrative sanctions, while maximum penalties for offences would be introduced. The Bill also expands appeal mechanisms relating to administrative sanctions, reinforcing oversight of the sector in response to concerns about abuse of NPO structures for illicit financing.
Expanded powers for the Financial Intelligence Centre
The proposed amendments to FICA significantly widen the FIC’s authority. These include expanded information-sharing powers, the ability to request information directly from public entities, municipalities and municipal entities, and the introduction of lifestyle audits as an explicit tool.
The Bill also extends record-keeping periods, broadens the scope of information that accountable and reporting institutions must provide to the Centre, and strengthens protections for persons who submit reports. Accountable institutions would be required to consider the risks posed by new delivery mechanisms and emerging technologies that could facilitate money laundering, terrorist financing or proliferation financing.
Additional changes address technical issues around sanctions compliance, including the treatment of interest accruing on frozen accounts and expanded circumstances under which limited financial services may be provided for extraordinary expenses. The Bill also aligns data protection provisions more closely with the Protection of Personal Information Act and updates offence and non-compliance provisions accordingly.
Stronger compliance levers under the Companies Act
Under the proposed amendments to the Companies Act, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission would gain the power to deregister companies that fail to submit securities registers within prescribed timeframes. The Commission would also be able to impose administrative penalties, with affected parties entitled to seek review by the Companies Tribunal.
Broader regulatory reach under the FSRA
Perhaps most notably for the financial industry, amendments to the FSRA would allow regulators to treat new services as financial products or services where they are similar in nature or outcome to traditional offerings. This could bring a wider range of structures and business models into the regulatory net.
The Bill also clarifies that regulators may license financial institutions even where those institutions are already licensed under other legislation, strengthening supervisory reach. Regulators would be empowered to obtain information directly from significant and beneficial owners and to initiate investigations under specified circumstances. Certain transactions concluded under a master agreement, as defined in the Insolvency Act, would be excluded from the application of specific provisions.
What happens next – and how to comment
Treasury has invited stakeholders to submit written comments by close of business on 13 February. Once the public consultation period closes, written submissions on the draft Bill will be considered by Treasury, together with the Department of Social Development, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, the FIC, and the relevant financial sector regulators.
Following this process, the Bill may be revised before being submitted to Cabinet and then tabled in Parliament as part of the formal legislative process.
Submissions should be emailed to Commentdraftlegislation@treasury.gov.za.
Please click here to download the draft General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill, 2025.
