Changes to international and cash transactions
National Treasury recently invited public comments on draft regulations on international financial transactions in terms of section 31, and amendment of regulations on cash transaction reporting and aggregation in terms of section 28 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FIC Act).
According to National Treasury, the proposed regulations mark the next phase in enhancing the integrity of the country’s financial system by continuing the fight against the criminal abuse of the financial system through money laundering, terrorist financing and the activities of organised crime syndicates.
Some of the proposed amendments include:
Cash Threshold Reporting and Aggregation
- Increase the threshold from R24 999.99 to R49 999.99
- Dispensing with the aggregation requirement – In this regard, cash transactions in excess of the applicable threshold over a 24 hour period will not be treated as a single transaction.
- The period for reporting CTRs to the FIC has been increased from 2 days to 3 days
International Funds Transfer Reporting
- Movement of funds into and out of South Africa via electronic transfers – The objective of section 31 is to ensure that information relating to cross-border electronic funds transfers is made available to the FIC as soon as possible to enhance its ability to analyse information concerning financial flows
- Setting the prescribed amount of funds above which a transaction must be reported to the FIC at R4 999,99
Comments on the proposed amendments to the regulations should be submitted to National Treasury at commentdraftlegislation@treasury.gov.za on or before 1 April 2019.
Click here to read the media release.
Click here to download the draft regulations.
Click here to download the FIC’s consultation paper.
