Exemptions for banks on money transfers published

Johannesburg – People no longer need to provide their income tax number or residential address when sending less than R10 000 per month out of South Africa, according to a notice published in the Government Gazette on Friday.

The exemption applies to banks, mutual banks, the Postbank, the Ithala Development Finance Corporation and “a person who carries on the business of a money remitter”. 

It involves “single transactions” of less than R3 000 per day or R10 000 per month being sent out of the country, and applies to South Africans and foreign nationals.

The institutions however still needed to verify, and customers had to provide their names, date of birth, and ID number.

This was according to an exemption, signed by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, to sections of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act of 2001, and the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Control Regulations of 2002.  

The affected institutions still had to apply “enhanced measures”, in addition to normal procedures, to scrutinise transactions and identify and report those that were suspicious.

The exemptions come into effect on July 1.