According to the registrar of companies, electronic register for filling data on beneficial owners started on October 13 under plans that will see the records made available to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), security agencies and the Financial Reporting Centre which tracks illicit wealth.

“Every company should update their beneficial ownership (BO) register before 31, January 2021 to ensure compliance with the Companies Act, 2015,” said a notice from the Business Registration Services under the Attorney-General’s office.

“The Registrar of Companies hereby notifies all Officers of Companies and authorised persons that the BO E-Register has been operationalised with effect from 13th October 2020.”

The new rules are aimed at curbing insider trading in the country. The rules will shed light on market activity by curbing the use of nominee accounts that investors have been using to side-step ownership limits in firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

They are also aiming to curb money laundering by revealing the true identity of investors owning large blocks of shares in both private and listed companies, who will also be of interest to the taxman.

Before the rules on secret company records, firms were expected to file a register of members or its owners, containing the date of share acquisition, share ownership and shareholder names, including nominees.

This allowed companies not to name controlling shareholders in the quest to conceal their true ownership.

The new regulations compel firms to reveal the identities of secret shareholders who control more than 10% in the companies to the Attorney-General through the Registrar of Companies.

The details required for filing include names of the substantial shareholders, KRA PIN, national ID or passport copies, postal address, residential address, occupation, telephone number and the date when the investor became a beneficial owner.