Monday could be blue for ”high risk” banking clients who have failed to verify their identities with their banks under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.
Banks have until Sunday to re-identify non-resident account holders, trusts and partnerships — or freeze their accounts until they present themselves with proof of their addresses.
After that, high-, medium- and low-risk customers have to be identified in that order.
The Know-Your-Customer law is part of an international drive to stamp out money laundering by keeping track of large financial transactions.
High-risk individuals are those customers with significant sums of money flowing through their bank accounts, and those with many accounts.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel extended the original June 30 deadline days before it expired, and substituted instead a staggered series of deadlines starting at the end of this month and ending in September 2006.
The Financial Intelligence Centre, said in a statement on Friday it accepted that banks had done their utmost to ensure they complied with their obligations.
It commended the banking sector ”for its huge efforts in this regard”.
The centre added that it expected banks to start notifying non-co-operating clients from Monday that their accounts are to be frozen.
”In order to give practical effect to their legal obligations, banks are expected to immediately give notice to non-co-operating clients that they will be enforcing the deadline,” the statement read. – Sapa