Glossary

Compliance terms, defined once

FICA, FFC, and AML jargon a South African estate agency runs into, explained without the circular definitions.

Accountable Institution: A business FICA designates as needing to conduct client due diligence and report suspicious activity. Includes estate agencies, attorneys, banks, and others listed in FICA’s schedules.
AML (Anti-Money Laundering): The broad set of laws, regulations, and processes designed to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained funds as legitimate income.
Beneficial Owner (BO): The natural person(s) who ultimately own or control a company, trust, or other legal entity, even if their name isn’t on the official registration documents.
CDD (Client Due Diligence): The process of identifying and verifying a client’s identity, understanding the nature of their relationship with you, and assessing risk before doing business with them.
CIPC: The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, South Africa’s official company registry, and the source Lucere checks to verify a juristic client’s registration.
FFC (Fidelity Fund Certificate): The certificate the PPRA issues that a property practitioner must hold to trade legally, now conditioned on demonstrable FICA compliance.
FIC (Financial Intelligence Centre): The South African body that receives suspicious transaction reports and supervises accountable institutions’ compliance with FICA.
FICA (Financial Intelligence Centre Act): The South African law requiring accountable institutions to verify clients, keep records, and report suspicious activity, in order to combat money laundering and terror financing.
KYC (Know Your Customer): Common industry shorthand for the identity-verification part of client due diligence.
PEP (Politically Exposed Person): Someone who holds, or has held, a prominent public position, or is closely related to someone who does, and therefore carries a higher risk profile requiring enhanced due diligence.
PPRA: The Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority, which licenses estate agencies and issues Fidelity Fund Certificates.
RMCP (Risk Management and Compliance Programme): The internal policy document every accountable institution must maintain, describing how it identifies, assesses, and manages money-laundering and terror-financing risk.
Sanctions Screening: Checking a client’s name against local and international sanctions and watchlists to confirm they aren’t a designated or restricted party.
Source of Funds: Evidence of where the money involved in a transaction actually came from. A core part of due diligence for higher-risk clients or transactions.
STR (Suspicious Transaction Report): A report an accountable institution is legally required to file with the FIC when it has reasonable grounds to suspect a transaction is connected to money laundering or terror financing.

See these terms in context on the FAQ, or read how Lucere handles each one on features.