The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) was established in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act No 38 of 2001. The FIC Act established the FIC in 2003 to administer the FIC Act, as South Africa’s national centre for the development of financial intelligence in accordance with international standards and requirements.

The FIC Act put in place a policy framework to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. It places compliance obligations on financial institutions and other businesses deemed vulnerable to money laundering.

The FIC was established to:

• Identify the proceeds of unlawful activities
• Combat money laundering activities
• Combat the financing of terrorist and related activities
• Share information with law enforcement authorities, supervisory bodies, intelligence services, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and other local and international agencies
• Supervise and enforce compliance with the FIC Act
• Facilitate effective supervision and enforcement by supervisory bodies.

The FIC Act lists various obligations applicable to certain categories of financial institutions, including the requirement to register with the FIC and to provide reports on certain types of transactions or activities by the clients of these institutions. Both registration and reporting are done on the FIC’s goAML EE online system which is accessed via the FIC’s website www.fic.gov.za 

Registration

Categories of industries classified by the FIC Act as accountable and reporting institutions are required to register with the FIC. (You can read more about these categories on the FIC website under the Stakeholder Compliance tab on the FIC’s home page.) Registration is done on the goAML EE section of the FIC’s website.

Reporting

• Accountable and reporting institutions must report any transaction in which a client provides cash in excess of R24 999.99. This is known as a cash threshold report (CTR).
• Any business or person associated with a business must report a transaction or interaction with a client that appears to be suspicious or unusual. This type of transaction or interaction could possibly be an attempt at money laundering or the financing of an act of terrorism. This report is known as a suspicious transaction report (STR).
• An accountable institution must report to the FIC any situation in which they think they may possess or control property belonging to a client that could be linked to terrorism. This is known as a terrorist property report (TPR).

All these reports must be filed electronically on the goAML EE section of the FIC’s website. The goAML system has the capability to accept individual reports and to batch reports.

Please note that all queries relating to goAML EE should be directed as follows:

• Log a query via the FIC website (Compliance Queries) or
• Contact us via the Call Centre at +27 12 641 6000 (option 1)

Download Links:

goAML Registration Guideline – For Accountable and Reporting Institutions

The FIC has published step-by-step videos on how to register or update your details on the FIC's registration and reporting system. Please refer to links below:

Section 1: Introduction (Applicable to all Accountable and Reporting Institutions)

Section 2: Accountable and Reporting Institutions that were previously registered with the FIC on the old registration and reporting system

Section 3: Accountable and Reporting Institutions that need to register for the first time