Breakout session

1. Corporate Registries and
The Fight Against Corporate Crime
Theme :
Corporate Registries,
A Critical Vehicle for Global Economic Growth

2. Outline
• Context and Remarks
• Expectations for the Session
• Context and Remarks (Cont..)
• Regional Perspectives - Related Solutions
q Africa and Middle East
q Asia Pacific
q Europe
q America and Caribbean
• Emerging Trends and Way Forward

3. Context and Remarks
• What are Corporate Crimes: are crimes committed by a
corporation or business entity or by individuals who are acting on
behalf of a corporation or business entity
• ►This includes Financial Crimes.
:GIZ Slides

4. Expectations for the Session
q How can we prevent Corporate Crimes from the time of
Incorporation, during the Life of a Company (Post-
Registration), Beyond its Existence
q Do we have mechanisms/ enforcement provisions in our
different Acts as Registries to fight Corporate Crime?
q What typical Corporate Crimes does each region/
jurisdiction come across.
o Trends to be reported back to the Plenary. (Africa and
Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Americas and
Caribbean.)

5. Context and Remarks
• Key Things CIPC South Africa is doing to fight
Corporate Crime:-
• Validate Identity of Incorporators –
• Consistently sending notifications to all affected for
any change
• Proactive Investigations, follow through until
Enforcement
• Beneficial Ownership Register development project
• Formal Analysis of AFS – monitoring and oversight for
compliance, XBRL Roll Out on 01 July 2018
• Active Collaborations with fellow regulators and law
enforcement, e.g. Capital Markets Regulator; Banking;
Auditing and Accounting

6. Context and Remarks (Cont..)
• If “Corporate Registries are a Critical Vehicle for Global
Economic Growth”
• Key Question for all delegates: “What do we need to do
differently as Registries”
• Some of what we can do includes:
q The Need for Empowering Provisions in the Act, to be
a Regulator of Companies (need for Legal Reforms)
q The Need for Data (credible data) to allow for Data
Driven Decisions in making determinations to
investigate or not to investigate
q The Need for Inter-jurisdictional preventative
measures to stop company activity continuance
across jurisdictions

7. Context and Remarks (Cont..)
• Expeditious dealing of complaints lodged (making
determinations at least within 30 days)
• Legislation to allow for pro-active investigations;
compliance notices, administrative fines; putting directors
on probation; delinquents director register
• Forced compliance measures, on disclosure certificates
• Being prepared to subject one’s decisions to reviews an
organisation like a Companies Tribunal or Courts, hence
the need for quality processes and procedures

8. Context and Remarks (Cont..)
• Collaboration with credible institutions complying with international
standards like Banks; IRBA (auditing and accounting standards);
Capital Markets, inter alia
• Auditor rotation as per current Companies Act (every 5 years)
• (Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation, 10 years – compulsory from 01
April 2023)
• Auditor status verifications with their regulator
• MoU‘s with fellow regulators, government departments, law
enforcement, inter jurisdictionally

9. Context and Remarks (Cont..)
• Delinquent Directors Register validation
• Fraudulent Director Removal
• Legislation to allow for existence of Takeover Regulation Panel to
manage mergers and takeovers
• Legislation to allow for establishment of Financial Reporting
Standards Council
END

10. Regional Perspectives - Related Solutions

11. Questions, Comments – Session Inputs
q How can we prevent Corporate Crimes from the time of
Incorporation, during the Life of a Company (Post-
Registration), Beyond its Existence
q Do we have mechanisms/ enforcement provisions in our
different Acts as Registries to fight Corporate Crime?
q What typical Corporate Crimes does each region/
jurisdiction come across.
o Trends to be reported back to the Plenary.
(Africa and Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Europe,
Americas and Caribbean.)

12. Africa and Middle East Region Input
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES RELATED SOLUTIONS

13. Asia – Pacific Region Input
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES RELATED SOLUTIONS

14. Europe Regional Input
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES RELATED SOLUTIONS

15. America and Caribbean Region Input
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES RELATED SOLUTIONS

16. Conclusion
• More can certainly be done by Registries without stifling
global economic growth.
v Adopting a balanced enforcement approach.
v Advocating for high levels of transparency and high
standards of corporate governance
• Ensure that there is legal backing for actions taken
by the Registry as part of increasing access to
justice for contraventions committed by legal
entities/ or their directors
• Follow through and publish related sanctions for
deterrence

17. Thank you
Comments and Questions!