Seychelles: FSA registry, company records and the beneficial ownership database

Who keeps company records

The International Business Companies Act 2016, Act 15 of 2016, defines the Registrar as the chief executive officer of the Financial Services Authority ¹. The Registrar keeps the Register of International Business Companies ¹.

The Act has sections headed Register of directors (section 150), Inspection of register of directors (section 151) and Filing of register of directors with Registrar (section 152) ¹. It has sections headed Inspection of documents filed (section 347), Certificate of good standing (section 351) and Certificate of official search (section 352) ¹. The operative text of these sections could not be read for this page.

What you can search online

The FSA home page links to a Struck-Off IBC Search at ibcsearch.fsaseychelles.sc and to a Register of Licensees for regulated entities ². It links to Registry Forms and to a Registry Fees page ². No public online search of active IBCs was found on the FSA site for this page ².

Beneficial ownership rules

The Beneficial Ownership Act 2020 received assent on 5 March 2020 and came into force on 28 August 2020 ⁶. The FSA lists amending Acts from 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025, and an unofficial consolidation to 20 August 2025 ³. The Act defines a beneficial owner as one or more natural persons who own or control a customer at the end of the chain, or who exercise final effective control over a legal person or arrangement ⁷.

The Beneficial Ownership Regulations 2020, SI 107 of 2020, set the test at ten percent or more of the controlling ownership interest, held directly or indirectly. A second test covers the right to appoint or remove a majority of the board ¹⁰. The FSA consolidation of the regulations, to 9 September 2025, keeps the ten percent figure ⁵.

• Every legal person keeps a register of beneficial owners at the principal place of business of its resident agent ⁷.
• A person who becomes a beneficial owner must submit a declaration within 14 days ⁷.
• The legal person must update its register and give the resident agent a copy within 14 days of receiving a declaration ⁷.
• The resident agent must upload any change to the database within 14 days of making it ⁴.
• The 2022 amending Act added a duty to review and verify beneficial owners at intervals set by the Minister ⁸.

Who can see beneficial ownership data

Section 13(1) of the Act makes the Financial Intelligence Unit the nodal agency that maintains the Seychelles Beneficial Ownership database ⁴. Regulation 16(1) says no person other than an authorised officer of a specified entity shall have access to the database ⁵. Regulation 17 requires information from the database to be kept confidential ⁵.

• Part A entities may search for purposes that include the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of criminal offences ⁹.
• Part B entities may search only for customer due diligence. They need the written consent of the customer's resident agent ^5,9.
• The Competent Authority is the Financial Intelligence Unit for Part A entities and the FSA for Part B entities ⁴.
• Directors, members and other listed insiders may inspect a company's own register free of charge. A beneficial owner may inspect only their own entry ⁷.
• For extractive companies, a copy of the register is filed with the Registrar of Companies and any person may inspect it on payment of a fee ⁷. Regulation 15 sets that fee at SCR 200, paid to the office of the Registrar General ^5,10.

Penalties

The consolidated Act sets most civil penalties at up to SCR150,000 per contravention ⁴. Giving wrong information to the database on purpose is an offence with up to 2 years in prison, a fine of up to SCR150,000, or both ⁴. Failing to comply with section 9(6) is an offence under section 9(13), with up to 1 year in prison, a fine of up to SCR200,000, or both ⁴.