ADVERTORIAL
FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE CENTRE ACT
Is your business
assisting in combating
financial crime?
C
riminals derive profit 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 identified 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 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:
1 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.)
2 You have a duty to identify your clients.
3 You have a duty to keep records relating to your clients
and to the transactions carried out with them.
4 You must provide reports to the FIC via the FIC website
in the event of these types of situations occurring:
a. Any cash transactions of R25 000 or more
b. 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
c. 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.
5 You must introduce certain measures in your business
to promote compliance with the FIC Act.
For further information call
0860 222 200 or
e-mail us at
[email protected]