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Client Onboarding

Why Onboarding?

At PH, client onboarding is more than just an administrative process. For us it is the first step in establishing a meaningful relationship with you. During this journey, we aim to gather essential information to further our relationship with you and ensure that we adhere to the legal requirements of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

What is Onboarding?

Client onboarding is our process of welcoming new clients to PH and obtaining key information which we need for such an engagement. 

During onboarding, we are legally required to conduct a client due diligence process as required by the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and conduct a risk assessment process. 

We are also required to obtain applicable consents from you in terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) so we can process your information when we execute instructions on your behalf.

As part of our FICA processes, we are obligated to obtain supporting information from you to confirm your identity. When you as client act in your personal capacity, the usual information to confirm your identity will be required. However, where you represent a non-natural person (company, NPC, trust, etc.), we are obligated to identify the Beneficial Owners of such non-natural person. This means, we will have to identify all the relevant related parties (shareholders, trustees, beneficiaries, etc.) until we have identified the ultimate natural persons at the end of the chain. 

To make things easier and safer, we have made our onboarding process entirely electronic. This means that you can submit all information and documentation electronically through our safe and secure online portal. 

As part of our onboarding process, you will receive an onboarding email that requires you to login using a One Time Pin (OTP) that will be sent to your mobile number. Please click on the link in the onboarding email to access the onboarding profile area on our secure portal and follow the steps.

And remember. If you get stuck at any point or are unsure about how to proceed or what information to submit, don’t hesitate to contact our Compliance Team.
 
Why Onboarding?

At PH, client onboarding is more than just an administrative process. For us it is the first step in establishing a meaningful relationship with you. During this journey, we aim to gather essential information to further our relationship with you and ensure that we adhere to the legal requirements of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

What is Onboarding?

Client onboarding is our process of welcoming new clients to PH and obtaining key information which we need for such an engagement. 

During onboarding, we are legally required to conduct a client due diligence process as required by the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) and conduct a risk assessment process. 

We are also required to obtain applicable consents from you in terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) so we can process your information when we execute instructions on your behalf.

As part of our FICA processes, we are obligated to obtain supporting information from you to confirm your identity. When you as client act in your personal capacity, the usual information to confirm your identity will be required. However, where you represent a non-natural person (company, NPC, trust, etc.), we are obligated to identify the Beneficial Owners of such non-natural person. This means, we will have to identify all the relevant related parties (shareholders, trustees, beneficiaries, etc.) until we have identified the ultimate natural persons at the end of the chain. 

To make things easier and safer, we have made our onboarding process entirely electronic. This means that you can submit all information and documentation electronically through our safe and secure online portal. 

As part of our onboarding process, you will receive an onboarding email that requires you to login using a One Time Pin (OTP) that will be sent to your mobile number. Please click on the link in the onboarding email to access the onboarding profile area on our secure portal and follow the steps.

And remember. If you get stuck at any point or are unsure about how to proceed or what information to submit, don’t hesitate to contact our Compliance Team.

Compliance Team

Compliance Team

 

Nanette Janse van Rensburg

Compliance Officer

Nanette is the Compliance Officer at PH Attorneys and is responsible for ensuring that the firm is compliant with relevant... legislation and regulations including, but not limited to, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act and the Protection of Personal information Act. In doing so, she facilitates and manages the regulatory risk of the firm and assists with implementing policies and procedures to achieve compliance by the firm.

Bloemfontein
nanette@phinc.co.za
+27 51 400 4181
+27 51 400 4161
+27 82 551 1234
PROFILE
 

Mojabeng Ralepoma

Compliance Administrator

Mojabeng is a Compliance Administrator at PH Attorneys. Her primary responsibility is to ensure that clients of the firm complete... the onboarding process and that their documents are verified in accordance with regulatory statutes and internal best practice guidelines.

Bloemfontein
info2@phinc.co.za
051 400 4197
PROFILE

Nanette Janse van Rensburg

Compliance Officer

Nanette is the Compliance Officer at PH Attorneys and is responsible for ensuring that the firm is compliant with relevant... legislation and regulations including, but not limited to, the Financial Intelligence Centre Act and the Protection of Personal information Act. In doing so, she facilitates and manages the regulatory risk of the firm and assists with implementing policies and procedures to achieve compliance by the firm.

Bloemfontein
nanette@phinc.co.za
+27 51 400 4181
+27 51 400 4161
+27 82 551 1234

VIEW EXPERT

Mojabeng Ralepoma

Compliance Administrator

Mojabeng is a Compliance Administrator at PH Attorneys. Her primary responsibility is to ensure that clients of the firm complete... the onboarding process and that their documents are verified in accordance with regulatory statutes and internal best practice guidelines.

Bloemfontein
info2@phinc.co.za
051 400 4197

VIEW EXPERT

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Compliance Insights

Three’s a crowd? SARS, Trusts and Beneficial Ownership

22 April 2024,  Dr Candice Reynders, Elani van Coller

The General Laws Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”) promulgated as part of legislative framework changes by South Africa... to curb money laundering, has introduced key changes to the trust environment, requiring extensive beneficial ownership and other reporting by trusts. SARS is also aligning its tax and data collection imperative with these changes by requiring similar reporting as part of trust tax submissions. In this article, we review the impact of these changes on trusts.

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New CIPC changes for the filing of annual returns

15 January 2024,  Elani van Coller

CIPC has again announced changes to the CIPC system for the filing of annual returns and beneficial ownership information, which... introduces mandatory obligations for companies and close corporations when filing their annual returns. 

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757
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New SARS beneficial ownership disclosures when filing your trust tax returns

29 November 2023,  Elani van Coller

Trustees should take note of additional requirements relating to the filing of provisional Trust tax returns in January 2024 as... SARS climbs on the beneficial ownership reporting train.

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Article

Estate Planning – a necessary tool in uncertain times

01 November 2023,  André van Niekerk

The last number of years have seen the world go through dramatic changes, pandemics, environmental upheavals, wars, financial volatility and... massive political uncertainty affecting every individual and country in one way or another. South Africans have not been spared with loadshedding, escalating fuel prices and rising inflation further adding to the uncertainty. This makes it feel as if planning for the future is pointless and all you can really do is survive the now. In this article we discuss why this could be a dangerous strategy.

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406
Article

Trustees take note – new platform for your trust Beneficial Ownership reporting

06 November 2023,  Elani van Coller

This October, the Acting Chief Master signed a directive introducing the new electronic platform for reporting Beneficial Ownership information at... the Master following concerns raised about the previously used Google Forms document for providing Beneficial Ownership information to the Master. This new electronic platform will now have to be used for all Beneficial Ownership reporting by trustees. In this article, we take a look at the new platform as well as some of the other aspects flowing from the directive. 

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447
Article

Important notice for trustees: Enhanced requirements for filing tax returns with SARS

03 July 2023,  Elani van Coller

With the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”) having come into... full effect on 1 April 2023, SARS has updated its Income Tax Return Wizard system to enable SARS to intensely verify the information submitted during tax return season.

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671
Article

New registration requirements for non-profit organisations

13 June 2023,  Hadiyo Mathoka

How does the recently passed General Laws (Anti-money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”)... affect the proposed Nonprofit Organisation Amendment Bill of 2021 (“NPO Bill”) and what does it mean for non-profit organisations (“NPOs”)?

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How big is the Financial Intelligence Centre bite?

13 June 2023,  Nathan Christians

More and more accountable institutions are being targeted by the Financial Intelligence Centre (“FIC”) for failing to comply with their... duties under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (“FIC Act”). But what can happen if you don’t comply?

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596
Article

Estate agents and their obligations under the new Anti-money Laundering Amendment Act

29 May 2023,  Cleopatra Mukhari

Closely related to the recent greylisting of South Africa is the passing late in 2022 of the new General Laws... Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing Amendment Act, 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”). The Amendment Act introduces several key changes to areas of law affecting trusts, companies and non-profit organisations in an attempt to tighter regulate these entities seen as prevalent to abuse for illicit criminal activities. Importantly for estate agents, changes have also been introduced to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 which affects all estate agents as Accountable Institutions. In this article we take a quick look at some of the main Amendment Act changes estate agents must take note of. 

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583
Article

The ‘what’ and ‘when’ of the new beneficial ownership reporting for companies

10 May 2023,  Dr Candice Reynders, Luhann Prinsloo

Surprisingly, many companies remain blissfully unaware of the new company reporting requirements introduced by the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and... Combatting Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”). The Amendment Act introduces changes to the company environment (effective 1 April 2023) which will have an administrative impact on South African companies. In this article we delve into the ‘what’ and ‘when’ of these new reporting requirements.

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1737
Article

Why trustees must now also record the accountable institutions they engage with

04 May 2023,  Dr Candice Reynders, Elani van Coller

With the passing of the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”)... late in December 2022, a number of critical amendments were introduced to the Trust Property Control Act 57 of 1988 (“Trust Act”), including amongst others the responsibility by trustees to record details about the Accountable Institutions they engage with in their capacity as trustee. In this article, we look a little deeper at this requirement and what it will mean in practice for trustees.

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Article

Trustees take note! How to record your beneficial ownership structure

18 April 2023,  André van Niekerk, Johnny Davis

In a previous article we unpacked the introduction and meaning of the new ‘beneficial owner’ definition introduced into the law... of trusts by the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”). With these changes being effective as of 1 April 2023, trustees should be awake to the proposed process for recording and submitting your trust’s beneficial ownership information to the Master of the High Court. 

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2566
Article

New Beneficial Ownership rules for companies and trusts

14 April 2023,  Luhann Prinsloo

With the new General Laws (Anti-money Laundering and Combatting of Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”) having... come into operation on 1 April 2023, a new definition of ‘beneficial ownership’ has been formally introduced in a number of key laws affecting all trusts and companies. In this article we delve a bit deeper into this new concept.

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2153
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Trustees MUST now report their status! Find out why

30 March 2023,  André van Niekerk, Johnny Davis, Mark le Riche

With major amendments to South Africa’s anti-money laundering framework scheduled to take effect from 1 April 2023 as part of... Government’s strategy to remedy South Africa’s grey listing status, all trustees should take careful note of the new disclosure requirements that will apply to them.

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Article

New disclosure requirements for companies. Comply or risk being deregistered!

22 March 2023,  Dr Candice Reynders, Luhann Prinsloo

In this article we take a look at amendments to the Companies Act 71 of 2008 which introduces new disclosure... requirements. These amendments have been introduced by the recently passed General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting of Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”) with the new disclosure requirements applying as of 1 April 2023. 

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954
Article

Companies take note of new beneficial ownership reporting requirements

06 March 2023,  Dr Candice Reynders, Luhann Prinsloo

The General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting of Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”) was signed into... law late in December 2022 and contains a number of critical measures South Africa hopes to put to use in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. In this article we take a look specifically at amendments to the Companies Act 71 of 2008 and the new reporting requirements applicable to companies.

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965
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Alert: South Africa’s grey listing means extensive new compliance requirements!

28 February 2023,  Dr Damian Viviers

The announcement on Friday that South Africa has been grey listed has come as a shock to many South Africans... blissfully unaware of this sword hanging over our heads. For those in the know, grey listing has been unavoidable given the damning reports levelled against weaknesses in our money laundering and financial control framework. But besides hurting our economy the grey listing has also forced government to introduce stricter control measures to correct the shortcomings and hopefully have the grey listing removed over time. And these control measures will affect all businesses and individuals in some way or another.

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Article

Trustees beware! You can now be fined and jailed!

27 February 2023,  André van Niekerk, Johnny Davis, Mark le Riche

Trusts have for some time now been the target of criticism for their alleged use and abuse in the money... laundering environment. The latest challenge to the trust comes in the form of a major amendment to South Africa’s anti-money laundering framework by the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”) which holds serious implications for trusts and trustees. In this article we will focus specifically on how the trust form is abused and how the Amendment Act aims to curb such abuse.

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1266
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New anti-money laundering amendment legislation to affect companies and trusts

21 February 2023,  Dr Damian Viviers

Major amendments to South Africa’s anti-money laundering framework have almost unnoticed introduced serious changes to the trust and company law... environment, including the addition of hefty fines and jailtime for trustees! So, although these changes have been aimed at the fight against money laundering and terrorism, the real impact of the amendments will be far wider. 

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What is the impact of the withdrawal of exemptions under FICA?

10 October 2017,  Nanette Janse van Rensburg

I’m responsible for FICA at my accounting firm. With the possibility of certain of the exemptions issued in terms of... the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, being withdrawn by the new amendment act, I’m worried that our firm will now have to comply with all areas of FICA. Will this be the position?

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693
Article

New FICA requirements for accountable institutions

09 June 2017,  Dr Damian Viviers

My business qualifies as an accountable institution under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act. There has been a lot of talk... in the news about the new Amendment Act being signed but not a lot of detail on how it will affect my business. Will it be business as usual or are there changes I should be aware of?

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725
Article