Financial Intelligence Centre welcomes cabinet approval for General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering And Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill, 2022

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) welcomes Cabinet’s approval of the submission of the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill, 2022 (the Amendment Bill) to Parliament for further processing. The Amendment Bill is aimed at progressing South Africa’s fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

The Amendment Bill, which was put before Cabinet last week for consideration, proposes amendments to the following laws:

• Trust Property Control Act, 1988 (Act 57 of 1988): Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
• Nonprofit Organisations Act, 1997 (Act 71 of 1997): Minister of Social Development
• Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 (Act 38 of 2001): Minister of Finance
• Companies Act, 2008 (Act 71 of 2008): Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition
• Financial Sector Regulation Act, 2017 (Act 9 of 2017): Minister of Finance.

South Africa’s regime for combating money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation financing (AML, CFT and PF) – including its laws and regulations, supervisory and regulatory systems – was reviewed in 2019 by a joint assessment team of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group, the International Monetary Fund and Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

South Africa is a member of FATF, the inter-governmental body for setting standards relating to AML, CFT and PF. These standards are the basis upon which peer reviews and assessments are made to evaluate member countries’ measures and capability for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. The results of South Africa’s assessment are contained in a mutual evaluation report, released in October 2021. The assessment team identified weaknesses in the South Africa’s regulatory framework and implementation measures for combating money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.

The proposed amendments to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act included in the Amendment Bill are, for the most part, technical in nature and do not substantially change the principles on which the customer due diligence provisions are based. The proposed amendments however do result in the establishment of a stronger AML/CFT/PF regulatory framework. The Amendment Bill was tabled in Parliament by the Minister of Finance (today) Monday, 29 August 2022. National Treasury has issued a statement in this regard, which is available on www.treasury.gov.za.