Johannesburg, 04 Nov 2004
The widespread effect of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) continues to draw attention.
To date, the focus of the new legislation has been on ensuring that companies and individuals have provided the correct information to their financial institution to ensure the FICA regulations are met. However, little thought has been given to the individuals who operate the electronic banking facilities, increasingly popular with many companies.
The regulations for companies are more stringent than those for private individuals, notes Lee-Anne van Zyl, National Director of Client Management at FNB Business Electronic Banking.
"The risks for crimes such as money laundering and fraud are higher where companies are concerned, while the amounts involved are generally considerably greater. Owing to this, the potential for the use of electronic banking systems for illegal purposes has always been high," she says.
FICA requires that banking institutions have full documentation on every person who performs or authorises a transaction on behalf of an entity, whether it be in terms of collection or payment. For these individuals, the process to verify identity and contact details is in progress.
Companies, on the other hand, must furnish the following documents:
* Certificate of incorporation (CM1),
* Notice of registered office and postal address (CM22)
* Personal details for the principal executive officer of the company, of person/s authorised to act and of person/s holding more than 25% of voting rights in the company
* Proof of directors` resolution authorising person/s to act
* Proof of the physical business address
FNB`s three business electronic banking systems - BANKit, Corporate Access Management System (CAMS), and Payment and Collection Service (PACS) are being included in a nationwide initiative to ensure compliance is reached by the extended deadline.
Van Zyl notes that the bank is taking every step to ensure that compliance is reached with the least possible impact on clients.
"As the legislation stands, every person who transacts with the bank needs to be identified in terms of FICA. It is our responsibility to our clients to ensure that this has no effect on their business, so we have been actively putting plans into place that will see all electronic banking clients compliant by the due date," she says.
Users or operators of the electronic banking systems who are only able to view or capture information, will not need to be included in the process. However, authorisers, administrators, super-users and signatories will need to update their details with the bank.
"We have decided to use this as an opportunity not only to meet the requirements of legislation, but to spend quality time with our clients to assess our service and our offerings," Van Zyl continues. "In effect, our teams will be taking the bank to their clients," she concludes.
FNB is a division of FirstRand Bank Limited. FNB is an authorised financial services provider.
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