South Africa Proposes Exchange Control Overhaul

South Africa's National Treasury published draft Capital Flow Management Regulations on April 17, 2026, proposing the first major overhaul of the country's exchange control framework in more than six decades. The regulations, gazetted for public comment until June 10, 2026, aim to replace rules dating to 1961, some originating in 1933, with a modern system focused on reporting high-risk cross-border transactions rather than blanket pre-approvals.

The reforms introduce a "positive bias" approach to capital flows, doubling the individual discretionary offshore allowance to two million rand and enabling couples to transfer up to four million rand annually without Reserve Bank approval or tax clearance. For the first time, asset managers could domicile non-rand funds, such as those in U.S. dollars, in South Africa, addressing a competitive disadvantage that has driven firms to hubs like Mauritius, Kenya, Rwanda and Dubai. Officials estimate the changes could attract up to 10 trillion rand, or about 608 billion dollars, in investment, according to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Crypto assets would be formally classified as capital under the framework, requiring transactions above...