To bolster South Africa’s capacity to investigate and prosecute financial crime, the Banking Association South Africa (Basa) and the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) have partnered with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) to make a digital and financial Forensic Analysis Centre available to the directorate.

The centre will provide the Hawks with advanced training for 40 senior investigators in essential financial forensic analysis skills, to allow them to more efficiently retrieve and analyse digital data.

It will also provide software and hardware, along with the necessary technical support, for use in the investigation of money laundering and terrorism funding, among other financial crimes.

It will also promote ongoing collaboration, high ethical and professional standards and innovation among those working for and with the centre.

The fully-staffed centre opened on November 2 following less than six months of conceptualising, building and procuring the necessary skills and equipment.

The training of the 40 investigators, who have signed a pledge to act ethically and work with integrity, has already begun.

Sabric will host and oversee this project.

The Hawks have upheld their independence and autonomy through legal safeguards, ethical standards, transparency and active engagement. They remain in full control of their forensic investigations. Basa and Sabric will have no influence over the use of these tools in the investigation of cases, the entities emphasise.

This project is highlighted as a significant stride in ongoing business partnerships with government, aimed at addressing the three primary challenges that hinder economic recovery, namely unstable power supply, logistical bottlenecks and crime and corruption.

South Africa’s greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), attributed to deficiencies in capacity to curb financial crime, is said to underscore the imperative for banks to partner with regulators and law enforcement to mitigate risk of the financial system being abused to commit crime.

Besides contributing to fulfilling the immediate remedial requirements of the FATF, the resourcing and training component of this project will, over the longer term, strengthen the capacity of South Africa to demonstrate its ability to successfully investigate and prosecute financial crimes.

Sabric will continue to work to improve communication, processes and liaison between banks and law enforcement.