FICA training is your first line of defence against financial crime

Johannesburg, South Africa - 3 December 2025. Earlier in November 2025, the South African Reserve Bank announced that it would impose administrative sanctions on two finance companies for failing to comply with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA). The greater of the two penalties – a R3 million fine – was handed to Discovery Bank for not reporting 24 suspicious transactions on time. The other case saw eZI Remit (formerly Ezaga Remit (Pty) Limited) getting a warning for weaknesses in its FICA-related control measures.

In both instances, the companies were reprimanded because their staff weren’t given adequate FICA compliance training. In the case of Discovery Bank, it was highlighted that 84 out of 155 new employees had not received training within 30 days of being appointed; 47 out of 109 of its employees had not received annual refresher training within a period of a year; and two out of six of its senior management had not received training within 30 days of being appointed.

If anything, these two cases are a clear signal of South Africa’s tightening stance on financial crime. These incidents also showcase that accountable institutions must see people as the frontline of defence.

Below are six practical, actionable training tips and tricks for accountable institutions to ensure that teams understand the law and that compliant behaviour is embedded into daily operations.

Remember that training is something your team must fit in on top of their other responsibilities, so keep sessions short and focused. Avoid long lectures, slide-heavy presentations and lengthy manuals; too much content at once can be overwhelming. Modules that are 10-15 minutes are ideal. To keep content relevant, tailor it to each team’s compliance requirements. For example, onboarding teams need to know all the ins and outs of Customer Due Diligence (CDD) and Know Your Customer (KYC) checks and sales teams should understand how to explain why documents are required without making clients feel like you don’t trust them.

To help staff apply the right rules in the right contexts, move away from theory and share real-world scenarios. For example, what your team should do if a client refuses to provide proof of address, or how to respond if a long-standing client suddenly starts making unusual cash transactions. Highlighting scenarios will help staff to better recognise red flags. As part of this, it is important to clearly spell out the risks, from financial penalties and reputational harm to potential business disruptions, that organisations face for non-compliance.

It’s helpful to create compliance checklists and cheat sheets that are easily accessible and simple to digest, so your teams can refer back to them as needed. This could include a document verification checklist or lists of high-risk customer indicators and examples of suspicious and unusual transactions. Many training gaps stem from staff not knowing what to say when compliance checks are questioned, but having a few simple scripts to use in response to queries makes it easier for them to stand their ground. Some good examples could include:

FICA compliance changes often, which is why short, quarterly refreshers are a must. Not only does this keep compliance top of mind, but it also reinforces key behaviours and provides a space to outline new regulatory updates. In addition, you should consider running regular mock exercises and spot checks to boost your team’s confidence in handling situations before they need to do so in real life. Staff often think of FICA as only important during the onboarding process. Training should emphasise the value of ongoing due diligence.

Culture starts at the top. If senior leaders are seen attending and participating in training, this signals that compliance is important. Where this isn’t possible, something as simple as featuring senior leadership in a short intro video shows your employees that everyone is accountable.

Employees need to feel comfortable asking questions, admitting when they don’t understand something and reporting red flags without fear of blame or punishment. When staff feel safe to speak up, they are more likely to escalate suspicious activity, question unusual customer behaviour, or highlight gaps in processes. As part of compliance training, take time to reinforce that mistakes should be reported promptly and that no one will be punished for reporting concerns. This reduces silent non-compliance.

While VOCA, from SW360, is not a training tool, this smart compliance platform automates many underlying compliance tasks, allowing accountable institutions to focus more on training. Additionally, because VOCA produces detailed reports, risk ratings, and audit trails using real-time data, these can serve as teaching tools and be used in internal training to show what “good compliance” documentation looks like.

As financial crime increases and criminals become more sophisticated, accountable institutions need all the help they can get to better detect, prevent, and report suspicious activities. Not only do automated compliance tools make it easier to meet regulatory obligations, but they also free up staff to learn more about what’s out there and, in doing so, stay one step ahead of financial crime. Ends.

SW360 is South Africa’s leading data intelligence platform, empowering businesses to verify, assess, and manage risk confidence. At the core of its offering are two powerful products – Searchworks and VOCA, each playing a key role in delivering real-time, verified data across industries. Find out more at www.sw360.co.za.

Searchworks prides itself on its exceptional reputation and being a leader in the data industry. Partnering with only the very best service providers and utilising cloud technology, Searchworks provides the highest quality and reliability, aimed at reducing downtime for professionals in industries such as finance, law, and real estate, Searchworks empowers users to perform thorough due diligence, mitigate risks, and make informed decisions. By streamlining the process of gathering critical information, Searchworks supports businesses in maintaining compliance, enhancing security, and improving operational efficiency. Find out more at: https://www.searchworks.co.za/

VOCA is a compliance-driven solution designed to simplify FICA and regulatory requirements with automated risk monitoring and real-time alerts. With a focus on innovation, compliance, and accuracy, SW360 powers data-driven decisions. Empowering users with the transparency and accountability in business practices, VOCA is a Verification, Onboarding, and Compliance application designed to streamline the compliance processes for accountable institutions. As an automated system, VOCA tailors its operations to the rule sets and risk appetite of each client, delivering comprehensive reports on individuals and businesses, complete with risk ratings based on real-time data. Find out more at: https://www.voca.co.za/

Monica van der Spuy | monica@ginjaninja.co.za | +27 71 685 6476