FICA & FFC, plainly explained
The questions estate agencies actually ask before their first FIC inspection.
What is FICA and why does it matter for estate agencies?
The Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) requires "accountable institutions", which includes South African estate agencies, to verify who they’re dealing with before facilitating a transaction, keep records of that verification, and report suspicious activity to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC). The PPRA now ties Fidelity Fund Certificate renewal to demonstrable FICA compliance, so an agency that can’t show its client due diligence records is putting its FFC at risk.
What is a Fidelity Fund Certificate (FFC) and how is it connected to FICA?
An FFC is the certificate every property practitioner needs to trade legally in South Africa, issued by the PPRA. Renewal now requires agencies to demonstrate they’re meeting their FICA obligations: client due diligence, a Risk Management and Compliance Programme (RMCP), and records an inspector can review on request.
What is an RMCP?
A Risk Management and Compliance Programme is the internal document every accountable institution must maintain, setting out how it identifies and manages money-laundering and terror-financing risk. Lucere’s document validity rules can be configured to match your RMCP’s own thresholds, not just the FIC’s defaults.
What counts as client due diligence (CDD)?
Establishing and verifying who your client is (and, for companies and trusts, who ultimately owns or controls them), understanding the transaction, and keeping evidence of all of it: ID documents, proof of address, company registration, source-of-funds information where relevant.
What documents does an estate agency actually need to collect?
It depends on the client type. Typically: certified ID or passport, proof of residential address, and for companies, trusts, or CCs, registration documents, a resolution or trust deed, and the ID documents of directors, trustees, or beneficial owners. Lucere ships default document sets for estate agencies and lets you add your own.
How long do FICA records need to be kept?
A minimum of five years from the end of the business relationship. Lucere enforces this as a retention floor automatically, so records can’t be deleted before then, even if someone asks.
What actually happens in a FIC inspection?
An inspector can request evidence of your RMCP, your client due diligence records, source-of-funds and beneficial-ownership evidence, and your record-keeping process, often with very little notice. That’s exactly why Lucere’s audit pack export exists, so that evidence is a few clicks away, not a scramble.
Does Lucere replace my compliance officer or my RMCP?
No. Lucere is a platform that helps you collect, verify, and keep evidence of client due diligence. It doesn’t replace your RMCP, your compliance officer, or professional legal advice on your specific obligations.
How does Lucere verify a client’s identity?
Through a real-time check against Home Affairs for identity, a sanctions and PEP (politically exposed person) screening, and a CIPC company registry lookup for juristic clients. Results are recorded against the client file, never guessed or assumed.
What does Lucere cost?
A flat monthly subscription (Lucere Firm or Lucere Multi-Branch) with a monthly allocation of verifications included, a once-off setup fee, and disclosed per-check rates beyond your allocation. Full detail, including current launch pricing, is on our pricing page.
Is my clients’ data secure?
Yes. Encryption at rest, an immutable audit trail, and a zero-persistence policy for Home Affairs identity checks. See our security page for the full detail.
Is there a mobile app for agents in the field?
Yes. The dashboard installs straight from the browser as a mobile app, no app store needed. Agents get a focused four-tab view built for a phone, not a desktop sidebar shrunk to fit one: add a client, start a matter, and run a verification in one continuous flow. Settings, billing, and admin stay office-only by design.
How do I get help if I’m stuck on something in Lucere?
A “Report a problem” button on every screen opens a support ticket that’s already tagged with exactly where you are, so there’s no forwarding a screenshot over email. A role-gated knowledge base sits in the same place for how-to guides, so most questions get answered without waiting on a reply.
Want the full picture, term by term? See the compliance glossary, or ask us directly.