Tag: financial crime

Since the emergence of Bitcoin in 2009, cryptocurrency has gained significant traction in popularity over the years, with more and more people investing in the now many variations of digital currencies available such as Ethereum, Tether, Binance, and even Dogecoin.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) officially declared crypto assets as financial products under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. This is a big step forward towards avoiding South Africa’s infamous decline into the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.

New Anti-Money Laundering (AML) scores reduce false positive alerts by 50% while detecting 100% of known money laundering transactions, and discover new aberrant, potentially risky. Money laundering continues to fuel crime and terrorism globally, with the UN estimating up to $2 trillion moved illegally each year.

Choosing the decisioning platform for your organisation to combat fraud and financial crime. There are a growing number of decisioning platforms to choose from to combat fraud and financial crime. Many find making the right selection overwhelming, knowing that the choice made will have a lasting, monumental impact on their organisation for years to come.

Businesses that are considered as vulnerable to being abused for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes by criminals are listed as accountable institutions in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 38 of 2001 (FIC Act). And, as such, these institutions must meet certain regulatory obligations that are designed to help combat financial crime.

The primary responsibility of every accountant is to serve the public interest first. But, as asked by the Roman poet Juvenal, 'Who will guard the guards themselves?' Who ensures accountants remain accountable? This is the function of professional accountancy organisations (PAOs), and it is the reason every accountant should be a member of such an association.

Being nimble and awake to the rapid changes occurring to bank fraud will be essential. History tells us that things like natural disasters, times of economic instability, and fears of recession or unemployment provide the perfect environment for increased fraud and financial crime.

Financial crime in the world is a significant problem that South Africa and the global community have to deal with on a continual basis. A week hardly passes by where the media doesn’t report on a case involving alleged fraud, corruption or looting of funds that did not end up in the hands they were originally intended. This has the potential to devastate the economic balance.

South Africa has significantly more financial crime than most other countries. With a rate of 77% compared to a global average of 49%, SA is something of a hotbed for fraud and scams. As consumers and insurance-seekers we need to understand the risks of economic crime and how to avoid becoming a victim, the risks of committing insurance fraud and how to avoid being inadvertent perpetrators of fraud ourselves, by for example, omitting information in an insurance application

Off the back of National Savings Month – which was celebrated in July – followed by South Africa honouring its women in August as it celebrated National Women’s Month. It is fitting that these two months are celebrated after each other. South Africans hold their women in high regard as they play a vital role not only in society, but in the home.