1. Financial Intellligence - the Latest 2. Meet your directors 3. IEA Courses now accredited 4. Diary of events



Financial Intelligence - the Latest IMPLEMENTATION of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act reached an important stage four weeks ago, on 30 June 2003. Since that date, estate agents - and the other eighteen "accountable" professions and industries - have been obliged to verify their clients' identities and to keep verification records on file for five years. Some agents appear to think that clients will object to being asked for their IDs. However, given that verifying identities is now routine when dealing with banks, attorneys, stockbrokers, casinos and other accountable institutions, we believe that clients will soon get used to the routine. Best Practice Guidelines To help the industry put the new system into practice, the Estate Agency Affairs Board issued Best Practice Guidelines on 7 July. This comprehensive manual can be obtained from the EAAB. Verifying clients' identities As far as the estate agency industry is concerned, the client is normally the seller or the landlord. When signing up a new client, the estate agent must obtain the client's full name and address (which he probably does anyway), and verify them by asking for a copy of the client's ID book or passport. The agent must also verify the client's address. If the seller or landlord is a company, a CC, a trust or a partnership, the agent must verify the identity and address of the organisation by asking for copies of the relevant registration documents. The agent must also verify the identities of the various people who represent the organisations in the transactions. Reporting suspicious transactions The estate agent's other important obligation - which was introduced in February 2003 - is not routine but occasional. If an agent knows, or has good reason to suspect, that a sale or a lease is being used to launder money, or to evade tax or transfer duty or stamp duty, or if it involves the use of money derived from criminal activities, he/she must report the transaction to the FIC within fifteen working days. The Act protects the agent against prosecution or having to give evidence if the report leads to a trial - but it doesn't protect the agent against reprisals on the part of the client he has reported! The Institute of Estate Agents will hold workshops to help its members put the Best Practice Guidelines into practice. Meet your directors Every month, we profile (in alphabetical order) two of the IEA Western Cape regional directors. Joy MacNab Has been in the property industry for twenty-five years. Before that, she was a nursing sister and an opera singer - careers which provided her with experience and skills which she puts to good use as an estate agent. As an IEA Western Cape director, Joy is involved in our transformation project, which she considers a great challenge. Patrick Maingard Joined the property industry in 2002, after twenty-five years in banking. He is the Western Cape regional general manager of a large and well-known estate agency firm. As an IEA Western Cape director, Patrick is involved in education, which is one of our cornerstone activities. Our courses are now accredited The Services SETA has accredited the following IEA Western Cape courses: • Real estate sales • EAAB exam course • Property development and investment • Auctioneering • Commercial and industrial Firms which send their agents to these courses can therefore recover the course fees by applying for skills levy grants from the Services SETA. IEA WESTERN CAPE DIARY Forthcoming courses and events Helderberg Area Committee AGM - 31 July Northern Suburbs Area Committee AGM - 1 August Property Development and Investment Course 2 August - 6 September (Saturday mornings only) EAAB Exam Course (English) : 11 - 15 August Auctioneering Course : 16 and 18 - 21 August EAAB Exam Course (Afrikaans) : 18 - 22 August Peninsula Area Committee : AGM - 21 August Real Estate Sales Course : 1 - 4 September ________________________________ Enquiries and bookings: phone 021 531 3180