October 22 2026 17:53
A South African compliance platform had re-screened its clients’ entire books against Friday’s UN sanctions amendments at 06:02. The regulator’s update email followed at 15:52.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
On Friday, 16 October 2026, accountable institutions using InTouch’s Continuous TFS Screening started their working day with their entire client base already re-screened against that morning’s changes to the Targeted Financial Sanctions (TFS) list. The Financial Intelligence Centre’s own email alerting institutions to the update was sent at 15:52, 9 hours and 50 minutes later.
The changes were four amendments to UN Security Council sanctions entries, including entries under the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida and North Korea sanctions regimes. At 06:02 SAST, InTouch’s automated daily sync detected the amendments, re-screened every client, and sent each institution an email and in-platform notification with a full report: what changed on the list, how many clients were screened, and whether any were flagged.
That head start matters because of how South African sanctions law works. Under section 26A of the FIC Act, a UN designation takes effect in South Africa the moment it is adopted. Section 28A(3), amplified by the FIC’s Public Compliance Communication 44A, then requires institutions to screen clients at onboarding, when transacting and every time the list is updated. The obligation covers beneficial owners, people acting for the client and other parties to a transaction, with no de minimis exemption and no risk-based discretion.
“I am incredibly proud of the team. On Friday our clients were greeted with a full screening of their entire client base almost ten hours before the regulator’s email went out,” said Karl Nimmo, founder of InTouch. “The law says ‘without delay’. Institutions that wait for the FIC’s email to start screening are already behind, and manual processes simply cannot keep pace.”
Friday was not a one-off. Because InTouch syncs the FIC and UN lists early every morning, its reports have reached clients before the FIC’s own alert on every list update to date. On 19 August 2026, the lead was about 14 hours.
The InTouch platform processes tens of thousands verifications a day. Continuous TFS Screening is available through the InTouch web portal, a REST API, and inside Iress Xplan, with a 14-day free trial at https://portal.intouch.io/explore/continuous-tfs-screening.
247@propertyflash.co.za
