This paper gives an account of legal and beneficial ownership registration frameworks across African countries, examining how many countries have beneficial ownership laws, which legal vehicles are covered by those laws, whether countries provide public access to beneficial ownership information, and other elements that make up countries’ beneficial ownership frameworks. The report particularly focuses on companies and also weighs the risks each country’s registration level poses based on the number of vehicles registered in the country. In summary, the report shows that the world is galloping towards beneficial ownership transparency.
This paper is part of the The State of Play of Beneficial ownership series. Other papers in this series include a paper providing a global overview of beneficial ownership frameworks and a paper providing an account beneficial ownership frameworks in Latin America.