Companies Commission Malaysia announces extension of transitional period in relation to Guidelines for the Reporting Framework for Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons

29 January 2021

The Companies Commission of Malaysia (“CCM”) had previously issued the Guideline for the Reporting Framework for Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons (“Reporting Framework Guidelines”) on 27 February 2020.
On 17 December 2020, CCM issued an Extension of Transitional Period for
the Reporting Framework Guidelines which extends the transitional period from
31 December 2020 to a later date to be determined by CCM which will coincide with the enforcement date of the proposed Companies (Amendment) Bill and Limited Liability Partnerships (Amendment) Bill (“Extended Transitional Period”).

It was also announced that during the Extended Transitional Period, companies and limited liability partnerships must continue to identify and verify its beneficial owners to ensure that such information is accurate and up to date.

Further, entities were reminded that information on beneficial ownership must always be accessible and be lodged together with the annual return. Given the importance of the beneficial ownership reporting framework, CCM will continue to conduct inspections to ensure companies and limited liability partnerships comply with the beneficial ownership reporting requirements throughout the Extended Transitional Period.