Online Awareness Training & Testing

Section 43(1) of FICA stipulates that Financial Services Providers should provide training to employees involved in transactions to which FICA applies to enable them to comply with the provisions of FICA and the internal rules applicable to them. The format of training is not prescribed and formal training and FICA awareness training are both recognised. Both methods are designed to raise the level of awareness of employees regarding their obligations under FICA.

The following extracts were taken from the 2010 FAIS Compliance Report:

Did the FSP provide employees with ongoing or refresher training as required by FICA during the reporting period?

If the answer is YES – Did the training include a test as required by the Financial Intelligence Centre?

Compli-Serve has developed a FICA online awareness training and testing facility for all categories of Financial Services Providers. All authorized users will be able to view and download training material and complete an online FICA Test. The online tests will be divided in the following 2 categories:

1. FICA testing for Accountable Institutions which will consist of (a) AML legislative framework; (b) Identification and verification requirements; (c) Reporting of Suspicious Transaction
2. FICA for non Accountable Institutions which will consist of (a) AML legislative framework and (b) Reporting of Suspicious Transactions

The Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) of each FSP will be assigned as the ‘Main User’ of the testing facility. The Main User will then have the responsibility to load additional users within their organization. After completion of each test attempt the Main User (MLRO) will receive an automatically generated email detailing the results of the test taken by the user. The MLRO and Compli-Serve assigned compliance officer will be able to draw an overall report of the specific FSP’s test results over any given period.

Compli-Serve will provide the Main User of each FSP with a username and password to access the testing site. It will be the responsibility of the ‘Main User’ to load users within their organization to give them (users) access to the testing site.

Should you have any queries or require any further assistance please feel free to contact Jason Hartman on 0861 273 783 or e-mail jason@compliserve.co.za