1. Purpose of the Service
This Acceptable Use Policy applies to all users of FICME (Pty) Ltd’s website, app and related services, including subscribing accountable institutions and persons acting through their accounts.
FICME is a secure digital platform designed to facilitate the lawful collection, verification, storage and controlled sharing of information and supporting documentation for customer due diligence, know-your-customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorist financing (CTF), beneficial ownership verification, and related lawful compliance purposes within the scope of the services offered by FICME. Users may use the platform only for lawful purposes and in accordance with this Acceptable Use Policy, our Terms of Service, our General Privacy Statement, our Core Privacy Policy, the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"), the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 38 of 2001 ("FICA") and all other applicable laws.
FICME also offers optional add-on verification services that subscribing accountable institutions may use to verify personal information and supporting documentation made available to them through the platform and to conduct relevant customer due diligence checks. These services may include identity and company-information verification, sanctions and watchlist screening, and adverse-media searches through authorised third-party providers and lawfully accessible sources. The resulting verification report is made available to the requesting institution through the FICME app for review and download. Each institution remains responsible for assessing the results and fulfilling its own statutory obligations, and all checks remain subject to applicable lawful processing grounds and any required consent or regulatory authorisation.
2. You Must Not:
upload forged, tampered with, or unlawfully obtained documents;
knowingly submit false or misleading information, or fail to take reasonable steps to ensure that information supplied is accurate, current and complete for the relevant purpose;
upload personal information about another individual or entity without lawful authority to do so;
represent that you are authorised to upload information where you are not lawfully authorised to do so;
attempt to delete, conceal or manipulate audit records or transaction histories;
use FICME to facilitate money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, sanctions evasion or fraud;
reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to derive the source code or underlying technology of the platform, except to the extent expressly permitted by applicable law;
impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation with any organisation;
attempt to circumvent authentication, OTP, rate limiting or any security control;
probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the Service without our prior written consent;
use bots, scrapers or automated tools against the platform, except through interfaces we expressly provide;
interfere with, disrupt or impair the operation, availability or security of the platform or any other user's use thereof;
intentionally overload, flood or otherwise abuse the platform or its infrastructure.
resell, sublicense or white-label the Service without a written agreement;
upload malware, viruses or content designed to harm the platform or other users;
copy, reproduce, modify, distribute or commercially exploit the platform, its software or content, except as expressly permitted by FICME or applicable law. This does not prohibit authorised uploading, sharing or downloading of documents and verification reports through the services;
use the Service in a way that infringes intellectual-property rights or applicable law.
3. Every User Must
take reasonable steps to provide accurate, complete and current information;
keep login credentials and OTPs confidential, use only accounts and permissions assigned to you, and promptly notify FICME of suspected unauthorised access;
promptly update information where it becomes inaccurate;
comply with all applicable legislation;
immediately notify FICME of any suspected unauthorised access.
4. Authority to upload
You may submit or disclose information only where you have the necessary authority and an applicable lawful basis. Where acting for an organisation, you must hold the relevant mandate; that mandate does not automatically authorise you to consent on behalf of every individual whose information is included. Obtain any consent required by law, provide applicable privacy notices, and supply reasonable evidence of your authority or lawful basis when requested. These obligations do not replace FICME’s own responsibilities under POPIA.
5. Sharing responsibly
User-directed sharing with subscribing accountable institutions requires your authorisation through FICME’s sharing process, including any ongoing authorisation you expressly select. Approve only requests whose recipient and purpose you have verified, and only within your authority. Necessary service-provider access and legally justified disclosures are addressed separately in our privacy policies. You may withdraw ongoing sharing authorisation through the available controls or by contacting us, but withdrawal does not retrieve copies already lawfully downloaded or override the recipient’s lawful retention obligations. Each recipient remains responsible for its own processing, and FICME remains responsible for its own obligations.
6. Business and institution accounts
Business and institution account holders must manage their authorised users, limit access to persons who require it for their duties, promptly remove access when authority ends, and take reasonable steps to ensure compliance with this Policy by persons acting through their accounts. They must not use another person’s credentials or OTP to impersonate that person or approve sharing on their behalf.
Verification services may be used only for a relevant, lawful customer due diligence purpose and on an applicable lawful basis, with any additional consent or authorisation required by law. Information and reports obtained through FICME must be kept confidential and secure and must not be sold, published, used for unrelated marketing or disclosed without a lawful basis. Institutions must assess potential matches and adverse findings before relying on them; a screening result is not conclusive proof of identity, misconduct or non-compliance.
7. Children
Where information relating to a child is uploaded, you warrant that all requirements of POPIA, including any required consent of a competent person, have been satisfied.
Children may not operate independent accounts. Where required, you must provide reasonable evidence of the competent person’s consent or other applicable statutory authorisation.
8. FICA obligations
FICME must not be used as a means of avoiding, circumventing or undermining any customer due diligence, record-keeping, reporting or other obligation imposed by FICA or any other applicable legislation.
Each accountable institution must download and securely retain the documents and verification reports required for its own statutory records while authorised access is available. FICME is not appointed to fulfil the institution’s statutory record-keeping duties under section 24 of FICA and does not store verification reports. Institutions must not rely on continued platform access to meet their retention obligations.
9. Reporting abuse
If you become aware of a breach of this AUP or a compromise of the platform, email security@ficme.app immediately.
10. Consequences
Where we reasonably suspect a breach of this Policy, we may investigate and take proportionate action, including restricting affected functionality, suspending access, removing unlawful content or terminating an account for serious or repeated breaches. We may act immediately where reasonably necessary to protect persons, information or the platform, or to comply with law. Otherwise, where appropriate, we will give notice and an opportunity to remedy the breach. Restrictions may extend to an entire account where reasonably necessary to address the risk. We may preserve relevant evidence and make disclosures to authorities where lawfully justified, consistently with our privacy policies. You may request a review through the contact details below. Any consequences for fees, unused credits and refunds are governed by the Terms of Service, Cancellation and Refund Policy and applicable law.
11. No Waiver
Failure by FICME to enforce any provision of this Policy shall not constitute a waiver of its rights.
12. Changes
We may update this Policy to reflect changes to our services, legal requirements or security needs. We will publish the revised Policy and its effective date and provide reasonable advance notice of material changes, except where an immediate change is reasonably necessary for legal or security reasons. Changes will not apply retrospectively to conduct occurring before their effective date.