Botswana
4 regulators · 11 laws & regulations · 7 obligations · 7 enforcement actions · 1 upcoming deadline
Regulatory pulse · 90 days
Laws & Regulations Enforcement News| Law or regulation | Type | Year | Regulator | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Payment Services (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (S.I. No. 46 of 2026) | Regulation | 2026 | Bank of Botswana | official |
| Bank of Botswana Regulatory Sandbox Guidelines status not recorded | Guideline | 2025 | Bank of Botswana | official |
| Banking Act, 2023 (Act No. 8 of 2023) | Act | 2023 | Bank of Botswana | official |
| Bank of Botswana (Amendment) Act No. 24 of 2022 status not recorded | Act | 2022 | Bank of Botswana | official |
| Financial Intelligence (Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions) Regulations, 2022 (S.I. No. 13 of 2022) status not recorded | Regulation | 2022 | — | official |
| Financial Intelligence Act, 2022 (Act No. 2 of 2022) | Act | 2022 | — | official |
| Financial Intelligence Regulations, 2022 (S.I. No. 14 of 2022) status not recorded | Regulation | 2022 | — | official |
| No instruments match these filters. | ||||
Recent enforcement
Open tracker →| Date | Entity | Regulator | Action | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | Prestige Wealth Investments (Pty) Ltd (PWI) | NBFIRA | Formal Reprimand | official |
| Apr 2026 | Prestige Solutions Financial Consultancy (Pty) Ltd t/a Prestige Wealth Solutions | NBFIRA | Formal Reprimand | official |
| Apr 2026 | Women's Finance House Botswana (WFHB), also known as Thusang Basadi | Bank of Botswana | Business Restriction | official |
| Feb 2026 | Turnbright Investments (Proprietary) Limited t/a Turnbright Pawn Shop | NBFIRA | Licence Action | official |
| Feb 2026 | PAA Capital (Proprietary) Limited | NBFIRA | Licence Action | official |
Industry compliance
Essential obligations
All obligations →| Obligation | Timing | Regulator | Source | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AML/CFT compliance programme and compliance officer | Ongoing | — | source | |
Section 13 requires specified parties to assess and mitigate their risk of financial offences. Section 14(1) requires programmes that reflect the identified risks and the size of the business, including a management-level AML/CFT compliance officer; section 14(4) sets administrative fines of up to P5,000,000 for failure. Regulation 29 of the Financial Intelligence Regulations 2022 adds internal rules, training and an independent audit function. |
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| AML/CFT record retention | 20 years | — | source | |
Section 32(1) requires records to be kept for 20 years, counted from the transaction date or, for business relationships, from termination. Regulation 18(3)(a) of the Financial Intelligence Regulations 2022 also refers to 20 years from the date a report is filed. |
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| Banking licence required before conducting banking business | Before accepting deposits | Bank of Botswana | official | |
Section 4(1) restricts banking business to licensed persons, and section 7(1) lets the Bank investigate suspected unlicensed banking. The Bank's 15 April 2026 press release on Women's Finance House applied sections 2, 4(1) and 7(1) when it issued a cease-and-desist order. |
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| Cash transaction reporting | Within five working days after the transaction is concluded (Reg. 22(2)) | — | source | |
Section 39 of the Act covers reports on prescribed cash transactions and sets fines of up to P1,000,000 (s.39(2)). Regulation 20 of the Financial Intelligence Regulations 2022 sets the threshold at P10,000 or the foreign currency equivalent, to be reported on Form B through the Agency's portal, and regulation 22(2) requires the report within five working days after the transaction was concluded. |
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| Customer due diligence (KYC/CDD) | At onboarding + ongoing | — | source | |
Section 16 sets when CDD must be carried out, section 20 requires identity and beneficial owner identity to be established and verified before a relationship or transaction, section 19 requires ongoing CDD, section 21 enhanced due diligence for high-risk cases and section 28 simplified CDD for low-risk cases, which cannot be used where a financial offence is suspected (s.28(3)). Fines run up to P1,000,000 for breaches of ss.16 and 20 and P1,500,000 for ss.19 and 21. |
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| Retention of banks' financial records | 20 years from the date of the last entry | Bank of Botswana | official | |
Section 31 requires banks and deposit-taking institutions to keep records that clearly show their affairs on a solo and consolidated basis and to preserve each record for at least 20 years from the date of the last entry; failure carries a fine of up to P500,000 (s.31(2)). |
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| No obligations match these filters. | ||||
Quick links — official sites
- Bank of Botswana — Bank of Botswana
- NBFIRA — Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority
- BOCRA — Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority
- BSE — Botswana Stock Exchange
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