Accountable institutions would all have received a Media Release from the FIC earlier this week, dated 4 December 2023. It served mainly as a reminder of sanctions that may follow on non-compliance and that, should non-compliance in a specific instance also constitute a criminal offence, the matter will be referred to our criminal justice system.
Generally, law firms, estate agencies, banks, money remitters, financial services providers, casinos and the other businesses defined as “accountable institutions”, had spent many hours this year gearing up towards compliance: Drafting RMCP’s, submitting reports, ensuring training of staff, preparing for FIC inspections, and more.
Figures provided in the media release reflect some of this activity. Below, we have compared it with the figures provided a year ago, to put it into context. Note that the 2022/2023 figures relate to the year ending 31 March 2023 and it is therefore likely that the changes reflecting this year’s intense activity on the FICA compliance front, will be spotted in the FIC’s 2023/2024 year report.
| 2021/2022 | 2022/2023 | |
| Total institutions registered | 45 555 | 45 392 |
| Cash threshold reports | ˃4.5 million | ˃4.2 million |
| Suspicious and unusual transaction reports received | 533 277 | 558 348 |
| Value of suspected criminal proceeds frozen | 204 million | 92.2 million |
| Value of proceeds of crime recovered in which the FIC’s financial intelligence was used | ˃5,1 billion | ˃5,82 billion |
Contact us for all your compliance enquiries and requirements at info@stbb.co.za.
