Ultimate Beneficial Ownership

Understanding Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO)

What is Ultimate Beneficial Ownership?

Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) refers to the natural person(s) who ultimately own or control a legal entity or arrangement, such as a company, trust, or partnership. This means the person(s) who benefit from or have significant influence over the entity, even if their name does not appear on official documentation.

Typically, a beneficial owner:

• Owns 5% or more of the company’s shares (directly or indirectly),
• Exercises significant control or influence over the company, or
• Benefits from the assets or income of a legal entity or arrangement.

Why Does Netcash Require UBO Information?

Netcash is committed to complying with South African regulations aimed at preventing financial crimes such as money laundering, terrorism financing, and tax evasion. As part of our Know Your Customer (KYC) obligations, we are required to identify and verify the ultimate beneficial owners of businesses that use our services.

Collecting this information helps us:

• Ensure transparency and accountability,
• Meet our legal and regulatory obligations,
• Protect the integrity of the financial system, and
• Offer you secure, compliant financial services.

Netcash Due Diligence Process

As part of our due diligence and onboarding process, Netcash requires the following:

• Company Beneficial Ownership documentation (view detailed list below)
• ID copies of the beneficial owner(s)
• Proof of address for beneficial owner(s)
• Organogram if part of a group structure

In some cases, especially for complex ownership structures, we may request supporting documents such as a business/company organogram.

We treat all information in accordance with strict confidentiality standards and only use it for regulatory and compliance purposes.

Legislation That Governs UBO in South Africa

Several laws and regulations in South Africa require financial service providers like Netcash to establish the identity of UBOs:

Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA), 2001: Requires accountable institutions to perform customer due diligence and report suspicious transactions. The 2022 FICA Amendment expanded the definition of accountable institutions and reinforced UBO disclosure requirements.

Companies Amendment Act, 2023: Requires all companies (except listed companies) to maintain a Beneficial Ownership Register and submit this information to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC).

General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act, 2022: Strengthens compliance requirements related to beneficial ownership transparency in line with international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).