An Authorised Dealer is a person authorised by the Financial Surveillance Department to deal in gold or to deal in foreign exchange, for transactions relating to gold and foreign exchange respectively.

 

Currency and Exchanges Manual for Authorised Dealers

The Currency and Exchanges Manual for Authorised Dealers contains the permissions and conditions that apply to transactions in foreign exchange that may be undertaken by Authorised Dealers and/or on behalf of their clients in terms of Exchange Control Regulation 2(2), details of related administrative responsibilities as well as the Financial Surveillance Department’s reporting requirements. The manual must be read in conjunction with the Exchange Control Regulations. Authorised Dealers may transact without referring to the Financial Surveillance Department, provided such transactions are permitted in terms of this manual.

 

Online systems 

The FinSurv Reporting System aims to ensure accurate and comprehensive reporting of all transactions data by Authorised Dealers and ADLAs in order to:

  • enable the SARB’s Economic Statistics Department to compile balance of payments statistics;
  • compile foreign debt statistics and repayment profiles to support monetary policy decisions;
  • compile statistical information relating to the nature, volume and values of cross‑border flows; and
  • provide the appropriate information for economic and financial management decisions, as well as planning and policy formulation.

FinSurv has embarked on a renewal programme branded as 1FinSurv to re-engineer the FinSurv business processes as well as replace a number of key information technology solutions currently being utilised within FinSurv. 

FinSurv Reporting System extranet site

The website can be accessed here

The Business and Technical Specifications and the Operations Manual must be read in conjunction with section J of the Currency and Exchanges Manual for Authorised Dealers or section C.1 of the Currency and Exchanges Manual for Authorised Dealers in foreign exchange with limited authority. The Reporting System Certification and Inspection Guideline provides reporting entities with a guideline of the certification and inspection procedure for their reporting system and reconciliation module. 

Contact details 

Any queries relating to the FinSurv Reporting System can be directed to FNS-Development@resbank.co.za

All transactions are categorised in terms of the requirements of the International Monetary Fund.

From 2011, the paper-based monitoring system of exports (Form F178) was replaced with a more efficient electronic system. Consequently, exporters are exempted from the provisions of Exchange Control Regulation 6(10)(a) and Authorised Dealers will no longer be required to confirm the receipt of export proceeds, unless directed to do so by the Financial Surveillance Department.

Presentation by SARS – May 2010
Presentation by the Financial Surveillance Department – March 2011

Urgent applications may be submitted through the secure SARB website at https://wwwi.resbank.co.za/iforms.nsf. A user ID and password are required to access the facility. These can be obtained from the Financial Surveillance Department by emailing FNS-HeadTypist@resbank.co.za

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) Customs Division issues only electronic documents. To align with the division, the SARB introduced the Import Verification System in 2011. The system enables Authorised Dealers to authenticate electronic or printed versions of customs import declaration forms received from their customers. Data is required to update the system to authenticate the forms.

The SARS Customs Division submits data daily to the SARB relating to all import transactions. This data is submitted through an interactive web service or a website and is stored on the system database. The system can be accessed here.

Any queries relating to the Import Verification System can be directed to FNS-Development@resbank.co.za.

Macro-prudential limit for Authorised Dealers

Authorised Dealers must complete and submit a Macro-prudential Foreign Exposure Limit Return to the Financial Surveillance Department by the twentieth working day of each month.

The overarching principles applied in the development of the Macro-prudential Foreign Exposure Limit Return can be viewed here.

Qualifying Authorised Dealers are required, as part of their financial year-end audit, to obtain an audit report from their external auditors assessing the last submitted return at year-end. The report must be submitted within six months of the financial year-end. An example can be viewed here.

 

Templates for auditor’s reports and representation letters

The templates for various auditor’s reports and representation letters required in terms of section B.3 of the Currency and Exchanges Manual for Authorised Dealers can be found below.

Auditor's report – B.3(B)(iii)(b)(aa)(1)
Limited assurance auditor's report – B.3(B)(iii)(b)(bb)(1)
Representation letter – B.3(B)(iii)(b)(cc)(1)
Interim representation letter in respect of trusts – B.3(B)(iii)(c)(dd)(1)