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05 December 2025in Jornal Económico Bruno Melo Alves comments on the new draft law in Angola on beneficial ownership

The Angolan government has approved the draft law on beneficial ownership.
Among the main points of the proposal is the creation of a Beneficial Owner Registration Centre (CRBE).

According to Bruno Melo Alves, partner and coordinator of Melo Alves' Angola Desk, the recommendations of the intergovernmental body ‘required Angola to adopt a set of additional measures to overcome some non-conformities that were identified in the last international assessment process’.

The CRBE, according to Bruno Melo Alves, ‘will register and record all public, collective and individual entities, as announced by law, as well as private entities, allowing these entities to declare in this central register who the beneficial owner is, i.e. who is the ultimate owner, the natural person of these companies,’ the lawyer explained to Jornal Económico (JE).

‘Once this law is approved, they will be required to be registered in this central registry.’ This mechanism already exists in Portugal, he added.
According to the legislation, Bruno Melo Alves adds, that ‘obligation to identify the beneficial owner is no longer centralised in the banking system and is now centralised in a central register that all public institutions, banks and lawyers can access; obviously having a legitimate interest in identifying the beneficial owner.’

Bruno Melo Alves recalls that Angola already has other instruments in place that allow for the identification of beneficial owners. ‘This concept already exists in the Money Laundering Law,’ he stressed. "The identification obligation is very much in the sphere of the financial system and banks, and now it is in the sphere of companies operating in Angola. And the transparency that this brings is indeed quite significant."

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