EDITORIAL FICA
FICA compliance:
Why the time for accountability is now
What do Old Mutual and HSBC Johannesburg have in common? No, it’ s not that they’ re both financial services providers or that the pair are big players in South Africa’ s financial services landscape. Each of these institutions has recently been penalised for noncompliance with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act( FICA).
By Sameer Kumandan, MD of SearchWorks
… the era of leniency is well and truly over.
84 SA PROFILE www. saprofilemagazine. co. za
In September 2024, the South African Reserve Bank( SARB) imposed sanctions on Old Mutual for failing to meet customer due diligence( CDD) obligations, failing to report suspicious and unusual transactions in a timely manner, and neglecting to adequately develop and implement a Risk Management and Compliance Programme( RMCP), among other offences. Old Mutual faces a penalty of R15.9 million for noncompliance.
In October, SARB announced that HSBC had failed to comply with certain provisions of FICA and would be charged a financial penalty totalling R9.5 million. HSBC’ s offenses also related to CDD and RMCP, as well as failing to respond to automated transaction monitoring system( ATMS) alerts within the required timeframe.
Similarly, Kunene Ramapala Incorporated, a law firm, was penalised R7.7 million for gross negligence and multiple FICA compliance failures. These failures included not