The Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority regulates and supervises Botswana's non-bank financial sector, covering the securities market under the Securities Act, 2014 and virtual asset service providers under the Virtual Assets Act, 2022, a role NBFIRA assumed in February 2022.

Botswana Stock Exchange Limited holds an exchange licence under the Securities Act, 2014, is the country's only securities exchange and lists shares, bonds and exchange-traded funds under NBFIRA supervision; its own website is bse.co.bw, and the URL given in the record is a third-party custodian market profile.

The Central Securities Depository Botswana was introduced by the Botswana Stock Exchange in 2008 and is mandated by the Bank of Botswana to operate a clearing and settlement system under the National Clearance and Settlement Systems Act, No. 5 of 2003; no IOSCO or CPMI-IOSCO compliance statement appears on the BSE's CSD pages or in its published CSD Rules.

Botswana's securities statute is the Securities Act, Act No. 26 of 2014, Chapter 56:08, which was passed in 2014 and brought into force on 1 April 2017 and has since been amended by the Securities (Amendment) Act, 2023; no Botswana Securities Act numbered 56 of 2017 exists.

The Securities (Amendment) Act, 2023 commenced on 15 January 2024 and revised the definitions of 'asset manager', 'investment advisor' and 'securities service', with NBFIRA requiring companies or individuals undertaking the newly added activities to apply for licensing.

Botswana is not a member of the Financial Action Task Force; it is one of the 22 member states of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group, which is the FATF-style regional body that assesses Botswana, and Botswana was removed from the FATF list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring in October 2021.

Operation of an asset management or investment advisory service involving digital assets.

Trading or exchange platforms facilitating cryptocurrency transactions.

Regulation 4(2) of Botswana's Securities (Institutions Licensing) Regulations, 2017 requires a person applying for a licence to establish or operate a securities institution to apply to NBFIRA in Form 1A set out in Schedule 1, and regulation 4(5) requires the application to carry a non-refundable processing fee for each licensed activity applied for.

Provide detailed information on the applicant, key personnel qualifications, and financial resources.

Regulation 11(1)(f) of Botswana's Securities (Institutions Licensing) Regulations, 2017 empowers NBFIRA to suspend or revoke a licence where it has reasonable grounds for believing that a securities institution, its key persons or its controllers are not fit and proper persons, making fitness and propriety a continuing licence condition.

Processing times are not explicitly stated but involve regulatory review of corporate governance, financial resources, and personnel integrity.

Botswana licenses virtual asset businesses under the Virtual Assets Act, 2022, which creates a virtual asset service provider licence and an issuer of initial token offerings licence, and NBFIRA issued the country's first VASP licence to Yellow Card Botswana Proprietary Limited under Certificate No. 11/1/5(1) on 29 September 2022.

Conducting customer due diligence (CDD) for all clients.

Implementing enhanced due diligence (EDD) for high-risk customers.

Section 38(1) of Botswana's Financial Intelligence Act, No. 2 of 2022 requires a specified party or accountable institution to report a suspicious transaction to the Financial Intelligence Agency within the prescribed period, and the Act carries the Virtual Assets Act definition of virtual asset service provider into that reporting regime.

Botswana has an explicit digital-asset framework: the Virtual Assets Act, 2022 was assented to and commenced on 25 February 2022, creates a virtual asset service provider licence and an issuer of initial token offerings licence, requires NBFIRA to keep a public register under section 19, and gave existing operators until 31 May 2022 to apply.

The Virtual Assets Act, 2022 imposes custody, market-abuse and disclosure obligations on licensed Botswana virtual asset businesses, while the only monetary figures published for VASPs, a P5,000 application fee and a base-capital requirement equal to half of forecast twelve-month gross operating costs, sit in a Virtual Assets Regulations text that NBFIRA publishes marked as a draft with a blank Statutory Instrument number.

Market participants face uncertainty due to evolving regulations and potential delays in obtaining necessary licenses.

High risk of non-compliance with AML/KYC requirements, leading to regulatory penalties. https://botswanalaws.com/consolidated-statutes/subsidiary-legislation/securities-subsidiary-legislation

Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) - globalEDGE

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Commencement Of The Securities (Amendment) Act, 2023

Cryptocurrency activity in Botswana is explicitly licensed, not left to securities law: section 9 of the Virtual Assets Act, 2025 (Act No. 4 of 2025) prohibits unlicensed virtual asset business and the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority issues virtual asset service provider and initial token offering licences, while the Securities (Amendment) Act, 2023 that commenced on 15 January 2024 revised only the definitions of asset manager, investment adviser and securities service.