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The Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) has issued the Guideline for the Reporting Framework for Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons pursuant to Section 20C of the Companies Commission of Malaysia 2001 [Act 614] (Guideline). This Guideline come into effect on 1 March 2020.

The framework imposes an obligation on all companies and foreign companies registered under the Malaysian Companies Act 2016 (CA) and local and foreign limited liability partnerships to:

(a) identify, obtain and verify its ultimate beneficial owners (BO);
(b) record the BO information into the register of BO;
(c) keep BO information accurate and up-to-date and can be accessed in a timely manner;
(d) notify the SSM of the BO information obtained, including any changes thereto;
(e) keep the BO information and supporting documents at the registered office; and
(f) give access to competent authorities, law enforcement agencies, the BO whose name has been entered in the register of the BO and any other person authorised by the BO.

The Board of Directors is responsible for keeping BO information correct and up to date and this information must be kept for at least seven years after the persons ceases to be a BO and it should be stored in the registered company address (or wherever the register of its members is kept).

Failure to comply may result in a fine of up to MYR50,000, the submission of false or misleading information may result in a fine of up to MYR3 million or imprisonment of up to 10 years or both.

With the commencement of these Guideline, companies and limited liability partnerships are required to obtain and keep the BO information accurate and up to date at the entity level before 31 December 2020 and to notify the Registrar from 1 January 2021 onwards.

Businesses registered under the Registration of Businesses Act 1956 are deemed to have complied with the requirements under Guideline.

For more information on the new BO Guideline, contact M&C.