Certain designated non-financial businesses and professions that fail to submit a risk and compliance return (RCR) face administrative sanctions, the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has warned.
Directive 6 of 2023 requires accountable institutions listed under items 1, 2, 3, and 9 of Schedule 1 to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica) to submit an RCR to the FIC by 31 May. These accountable institutions are:
- Legal practitioners (Item 1);
- Trust and company service providers (Item 2);
- Estate agents (Item 3); and
- Gaming institutions (Item 9).
Click here to read how Schedule 1 defines these accountable institutions.
The RCR covers the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 (both dates inclusive).
The return requires the applicable accountable institutions to submit information to the FIC on their understanding of money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing risks, as well as an assessment of their compliance with their Fica obligations.
In a statement last week, the FIC emphasised that a directive is a rule that is made by a supervisory body or the FIC. It creates enforceable compliance obligations for the accountable institutions within its scope and, in this sense, has the same status as Fica and the Regulations.
Legal practitioners, trust and company service providers, estate agents, and gambling institutions that have failed to comply with Directive 6 are non-compliant and may be sanctioned in terms of section 62E of Fica, the Centre said.
A sanction may include a financial penalty of up to R10 million for natural persons and R50m for legal or juristic persons.
The FIC issued a “final demand” to non-compliant accountable institutions to submit the RCR immediately.
To complete the RCR, the relevant accountable institutions must populate the form on the FIC’s website using this link.
For queries on this process, contact the FIC as follows:
- Log a compliance query by going to “Contact the FIC” on the FIC’s website; or
- Call the FIC compliance contact centre on 012 641 6000 and select option 1.
