Kuwait closes 73,700 companies in anti-laundering drive

• Opaque ownership targeted
• Inactive companies shut down
• Following FATF recommendations

Kuwait has shut down 73,700 companies that failed to disclose their real owners, as part of a wider campaign to combat money laundering and terror funding.

The country has stepped up its fight against laundering over the past few years following Western criticism and in line with recommendations by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The commerce and industry ministry said earlier this year that companies which fail to heed its instructions would be fined and could be closed if the offence is repeated.

On Monday, the ministry said it had fined around 4,000 companies during 2024-2025 following extensive raids carried out by its inspectors.

“During that period, the ministry implemented a comprehensive project to enhance the transparency of the company’s actual beneficiary,” it said in a statement carried by the official Kuwaiti news agency.

“This project has resulted in the removal of 73,700 inactive companies and the updating of the data of thousands of others in cooperation with several government agencies,” the ministry said.

The ministry warned in March that companies involved in serious money laundering and terror funding offences could be shut permanently.

Financial penalties under the new law range between KD500 and 10,000 ($1,650-$33,000) and offences are classified into low, medium and high-risk categories.

In a recent statement, the ministry clarified that a company’s actual beneficiary does not necessarily have to hold capital shares or voting rights in the enterprise. 

The beneficial owner may exert actual or legal control or influence through any means, whether direct or indirect, or may act as the company’s legal representative, it said.

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“The purpose of declaring the beneficial owner is to promote transparency in economic and financial transactions. This initiative aims to ensure that such information is accessible to law enforcement agencies, judicial authorities, and regulatory bodies, in line with the recommendations of FATF,” it added.

Kuwait, which controls the world’s sixth-largest recoverable oil deposits, issued its first comprehensive anti-laundering and terror funding law in 2013 following pressure from the US and other Western powers.

The law criminalised such offences and included heavy financial penalties and prison terms of up to 10 years.