Who owns this company? The disclosure rules arriving in Mauritius and the Seychelles

In August, within days of each other, the parliaments of Mauritius and the Seychelles passed laws that change what the registers must hold about the people behind entities registered there. Taken one at a time, neither change is dramatic. Read together, they close a period in which the identity of a nominee director's principal, or a beneficial owner's date of birth, could simply be left off the record.

Both countries face mutual evaluations by ESAAMLG, the regional body of the FATF network, over the next two years. The Seychelles does not hide the connection: the explanatory memorandum to its amending bill cites FATF Recommendation 24, on the transparency of legal persons.

The Seychelles: nominees on the record

The International Business Companies (Amendment) Act, 2026 (Act 13 of 2026) received assent on 11 August and appeared in the Gazette on 24 August. Three changes matter, because each reaches a different part of the company's record: the register, the filings and the first weeks after incorporation.

Nominee directors must be identified. An IBC's register of directors must now say whether any director or alternate director is a nominee, and give the details of the person who nominated them, including a date of birth where the nominator is an individual. Existing companies have until 31 December 2026.

Directors' names go into filings. From 1 January 2027, each filing must carry the name and date of appointment of every current director.

The first director within 30 days. A new IBC must appoint its first director within 30 days of incorporation. It used to have nine months, long enough for a company to go most of a year with no director on the register.

Separately, the Trusts (Amendment) Act, 2026 requires trustees to keep the information in the trust register accurate and up to date, and to answer anti-money laundering requests from banks and other regulated businesses. The Seychelles sets its beneficial ownership line low: a beneficial owner is a natural person who owns or controls 10 per cent or more of a legal person.

Mauritius: dates of birth and partnerships

The Mauritius changes sit in the Economic and Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 (Act No. 13 of 2026), published in the Gazette on 13 August.

Dates of birth. Companies, foundations, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships must record the date of birth of each beneficial owner or ultimate beneficial owner. Existing entities have until 30 June 2027.

A register for partnerships. A new section 11A of the Companies Act gives partnerships, sociétés civiles and commerciales among them, a beneficial ownership register of their own. Existing partnerships have until 31 March 2027.

Bank signatories. The FSC guidelines on who may sign for the bank accounts of Global Business Licence holders now sit on a statutory footing, and licence holders must operate their accounts in line with them. The FSC has extended the transition period for those rules by six months.

How this compares

The UAE has required legal persons to keep a register of real beneficiaries, and to file it with the registrar, since Cabinet Resolution No. 109 of 2023, with an ownership threshold of 25 per cent. The Seychelles, at 10 per cent, sets the line lower and so reaches smaller holdings.

What it means for structures

Nominee arrangements still exist. What they no longer do is hide anything from the registrar or the regulator. A structure built mainly to keep a name off the record has lost its reason for being, while one with a real purpose, such as governance, succession or the investment of a family's capital, carries on as before with more forms to fill in.

Most of those forms land with registered agents and management companies, who will in turn ask their clients. We would answer early. The clients who do will miss the year-end queue.