Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has appointed Advocate Pieter Smit as the interim director of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) with effect from 1 September.
Smit’s appointment follows the conclusion of Advocate Xolisile Khanyile’s contract as director of the FIC.
His appointment is for six months or until a new director is appointed and assumes office, whichever occurs first. The process to appoint a new director is under way.
Smit joined the FIC in 2004 as the executive manager: legal and policy, the position he currently occupies. He was part of the team that was responsible for establishing the FIC.
Smit has been responsible for the development of proposals to amend Fica and has, on occasion, led the processes for the passage of the FIC Amendment Bills through Parliament. He closely monitors money laundering and terror financing risk typologies, keeps abreast of international policy developments relating to anti-money laundering (AML) and the combating of the financing of terrorism (CFT), and leads the process of formulating AML/CFT policies.
He has been a long-standing member of the South African delegation to the Financial Action Task Force and the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group.
He holds a Baccalaureus Iuris from the University of Pretoria, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Pretoria, and a Master of Laws from Rand Afrikaans University. He was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court in 1990.
Godongwana thanked Khanyile for her service as director from January 2018 to August 2023 and wished her well in her future endeavours.
Khanyile played a leading role in building partnerships domestically and abroad in the fight against financial crime, the FIC said in a statement. Under her guidance, the public-public collaboration of the Fusion Centre and public-private partnership of the South African Anti-Money Laundering Integrated Task Force took hold. Khanyile was also the chairperson of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units since July 2022.
