The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has disclosed that African countries like Kenya and Malawi will soon embark on a study tour to the commission toward adopting the Beneficial Ownership Register which it unveiled in May this year.
Daily Trust reports that the first beneficial ownership register on the continent, which was unveiled by CAC on May 25, 2023, was targeted at promoting transparency in company operations as it contains names of persons with significant control in any company.
In a statement by CAC’s head of media, Rasheed Mahe said the 2016 London Anti-corruption summit heralded the journey to build the BoR as Nigeria pledged, among other things, to open a publicly available beneficial ownership register of corporate entities.
According to him, “The CAC on July 12, 2023, flagged off a training workshop on the use of the BOR as a component of the project in Abuja, Lagos and Kano which drew participants from the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), civil society organizations (CSOs), and journalists, amongst others.
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“With the successes recorded with the launch of Africa’s first BOR, more countries are now aiming to replicate it in their jurisdictions. Already, Kenya and Malawi, among others, are expected to commence study visits to the CAC in a bid to develop their own version of the BOR.
“In view of the reforms carried out by the CAC under the dynamic leadership of Alhaji Garba Abubakar, the Corporate Registers Forum (CRF) has penciled the commission for an international award during its upcoming 2023 conference scheduled for Malta,” he said.
