Financial Intelligence Centres Act

South Africa has implemented a law that is designed to combat money laundering, which is the abuse of financial systems in order to hide and/or disguise the proceeds of crime. This law is known as the Financial Intelligence Centres Act 28 of 2001, also referred to as FICA.

In terms of FICA, all accountable institutions, (such as banks) have specific duties to help prevent money laundering. One of these duties is to perform a "Know-Your-Customer" (KYC) check on all customers by certain deadline dates.

As a result of the said "KYC requirements" you will be ask to provide the Bank with documentation that will assist us to verify your identity (i.e. your bar coded identity document) and your residential address (i.e. your latest rates and taxes account), every time you open a new account with the Bank.