SMART MOVES
Enforcing The FIC Act
And combatting crime
that your firm accounts to another regulatory
body – the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB)
– which is responsible for the enforcement of
various compliance requirements, including the
terms of the FIC Act.
The obligations of an accountable institution are
summarised below:
C
riminals derive prof it through illegal
activities, such as the sale of banned drugs,
counterfeit goods, and human trafficking,
among others. They use the country’s financial
transaction system to make their profits or terror
funding appear legal.
Estate agents have been identif ied as being
susceptible to abuse by criminals wishing to disguise
the proceeds of their criminal activities, often
referred to as ‘dirty money’. An example of this is
where a drug dealer buys a property for cash. The
funds may have been acquired illegally but, if he
later resells the property, then the funds he receives
on the sale appear to be legal because he has carried
out a legal transaction by selling immovable property
through legal channels.
To prevent this from happening in your business,
you should ensure that your business complies with
the requirements of the Financial Intelligence
Centre Act No. 38 of 2001 (the FIC Act), as
amended.
Obligations of estate agents in terms of the FIC
Act
· Estate agents are categorised as accountable
institutions in terms of the FIC Act. This means
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Residential Handbook 2013
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You must register your firm with the FIC. This
should be done online via the FIC’s website – www.
fic.gov.za. A manual process for registering is also
available – contact the FIC should you wish to go
this route.
You will be asked to provide the details of a
representative of the business; it is best to list the
person who will be responsible for reports you are
required to submit to the FIC. (See below for more
information about the reports.)
You have a duty to identify your clients.
· You have a duty to keep records relating to your
clients and to the transactions carried out with
them.
· You must provide reports to the FIC via the FIC
website in the event of these types of situations
occurring:
· Any cash transactions of R25 000 or more;
· A Suspicious and Unusual Transaction Report must
be submitted if you regard a transaction as in some
way suspicious or unusual in comparison with
normal business practice;
· A Terror Property Report must be submitted if you
hold property on behalf of someone who may have
been involved in carrying out terrorist activities.
· You must introduce certain measures in your
business to promote compliance with the FIC
Act.
RESOURCES
FIC
www.reimag.co.za