Botswana.
Botswana treats restricted and higher-risk clients through legislation rather than published bank-by-bank lists. This page summarises the framework and what Olympus prohibits.
The legal framework.
The Financial Intelligence Act, 2022 implements international anti-money-laundering standards and continues the Financial Intelligence Agency as the national centre for financial intelligence. Its Schedule I lists the parties that must apply customer due diligence, and includes every category of designated non-financial business and profession defined in the FATF guidelines.
The Act requires monitoring of complex, unusual and high-risk transactions, allows simplified due diligence in defined cases, and prohibits establishing or maintaining a business relationship with a terrorist or member of a terrorist group.
Businesses that draw extra scrutiny.
The FATF categories of designated non-financial businesses and professions.
- Casinos and other gambling businesses
- Real estate agents
- Dealers in precious metals and precious stones
- Lawyers, notaries and accountants, when carrying out specified transactions
- Trust and company service providers
Whether a firm in these categories can be onboarded is each institution’s decision. For Olympus, gambling is prohibited unless the client holds a valid Botswana licence.
Sanctions and reporting.
- Olympus screens against OFAC, UN, EU and local sanctions lists.
- Transactions at or above BWP 10,000, electronic or international, are flagged for eventual reporting to the Financial Intelligence Agency. Flagged means reviewed, not blocked.
- Records are kept for at least seven years after account closure where regulation requires.
Prohibited by Olympus.
- Any activity that is unlawful under the laws of Botswana or any other applicable jurisdiction.
- Money laundering, terrorist financing, or any activity that violates the Financial Intelligence Act, 2022 of Botswana or international AML/CFT standards.
- Transactions involving countries, entities or individuals subject to sanctions by the Bank of Botswana, the United Nations, OFAC or other applicable sanctions authorities.
- Gambling, online gaming with real money, or betting services, unless you hold a valid Botswana licence to operate such services.
- Purchasing, selling or facilitating transactions in unlicensed financial instruments, unregistered securities or prohibited assets.
- Processing payments on behalf of third parties without Olympus’s prior written consent.
- Receiving or processing payments that are the proceeds of fraud, theft or any other criminal activity.
- Using a Business Account for personal transactions, or a personal account for business.
- Operating a Ponzi scheme, pyramid scheme or any other fraudulent investment arrangement.
- Providing false, misleading or incomplete information to Olympus at any time.
Botswana bank policies.
No published restricted-business lists from Botswana banks comparable to the UK examples were found. Where a bank has one, it is in its onboarding documents. Ask the institution directly.