Financial Intelligence Centre Act

About Fica

Fica stands for Financial Intelligence Centre Act. The latest act (Act 38) was implemented in 2001 and is the most comprehensive legislation detailing money laundering controls in South Africa. Under this legislation Postbank must implement reasonable measures to identify our customers and so prevent criminals from using false or stolen identities. As such, when you open a banking account you need to supply documents that verify your identity and give proof of your residential address. The same applies to any individuals who may have signing powers on your account.

Please visit: http://www.fic.gov.za/Fica no 38 of 2001 Fica exemption 17 of 2004 for more information.

What is FICA?

“FICA” is an abbreviation for Financial Intelligence Centre Act, which is Act 38,2001. This Act came into effect or was implemented by the South African law to combat money laundering, which is the abuse of financial systems in order to hide and / or disguise the proceeds of crime. The aim of FICA is to provide a legal framework for effective money laundering control, which in essence is intended to prevent criminals from being able to integrate their ill-gotten gains into our credible banking systems. This law has brought South Africa into line with international standards in the fight against crime.

Sections 21 and 22 of FICA, and the Regulations thereto, require for all South African Banks to ensure that they have correct details for all of their customers by establishing and verifying certain customer details. This Law forces the institutions to know their clients, which means the account will be required to provide the Bank with proof of identity, physical address and income tax number(s) (if issued) in order for us to validate their information.

Those customers could be South African or Non- South African residents.