A guide to identifying and reporting suspicious behaviours and transactions
05 Jul 2023
In the world of compliance, the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) can be envisioned as the Batman of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, which means that Accountable Institutions can take the role of the reliable sidekick Robin, assisting the FIC and being financial crime superheroes in their own right by alerting the FIC the moment they form a suspicion.
According to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA), Accountable Institutions are obligated to report any suspicious behaviour or transactions and so we have put together a handy guide to identifying and reporting suspicious behaviours and transactions. In the guide, we unpack each of the following reporting duties set out in chapter 3 of FICA:
Section 28: Cash transactions above the prescribed limit. The new threshold is to report a single cash transaction of R49 999 or more.
Section 28A: Property associated with terrorist and related activities. These reports are called Terrorist Property Reports (TPR’s).
Section 29: Suspicious and unusual transactions. Suspicious transactions refer to transactions that may cause Accountable Institutions to experience apprehension or scepticism about a particular transaction, taking into account its unusual nature, circumstances, the person or entity involved in the transaction or the transaction amount.
Click here to access your copy of our guide to identifying and reporting suspicious behaviours and transactions and awaken the financial crime superhero within you.
The DocFox Compliance Team can assist with preparation for a FIC inspection, response to a FIC report, guidance on how to submit Suspicious Activity or Transaction Reports, or any other FICA related questions. Get in touch [email protected].
See also:
- DocFox and the Law Society of South Africa have partnered to make FICA compliance easier than ever before
- Financial Intelligence Centre Act: Increase in the number of sectors as accountable institutions
- Significant developments in reporting beneficial ownership
- Risk and compliance reporting: Legal practitioners not above the law
