ACAMS East Africa Chapter June 2024 Virtual Event: Understanding Beneficial Ownership and Transparency of Legal arrangements – A case for NPOs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Overview

In today's complex and dynamic financial landscape, beneficial ownership is fundamental to transparency and regulatory compliance. Beneficial ownership points to the individuals or entities who either own, control or are the ultimate beneficiaries of an asset or entity, even if they are not listed on legal documentation. Triggered by the high appetite to belong on the good side of the Financial Action Task Force standards, (FATF), many countries and actors in the private sector across the world, have taken steps to improve transparency through hasty legislative and enforcement actions.

Albeit little known among NPO actors in many jurisdictions, it is imperative to note that the lens used to view BO differs significantly from numerous jurisdictions across the world and sometimes used as a seal of approval to interfere with the operation of NGOs. Thus, the Civic Advisory Hub, in collaboration with ACAMS East Africa Chapter wishes to conduct a webinar with the aim of bridging the   knowledge gap on the recent FATF’s revision to Recommendation 24, on beneficial ownership of legal persons, and to clarify on any concerns on the same.

The virtual engagement will bring together a panel of experts including regulators, bankers and Regional FATF Style Bodies who shall focus on implementing BO and the NGO sector within Sub-Saharan Africa.

The discussions will focus on the following topics:

• What are the FATF standards on beneficial ownership (BO) transparency - objectives and rationale; (ESAAMLG)
• What are your experiences, challenges, and lessons-learnt in conducting collecting BO information and developing appropriate mitigation strategies, and in Uganda?
• What is the role of the Banking sector – your experiences, challenges, and lessons-learnt in conducting collecting BO information and developing appropriate mitigation strategies, and in Uganda?
• What can be done further to enhance adequacy, accuracy and timeliness of BO information?