smileid

Instant AML and KYC compliance solution for South Africa

Smile ID empowers businesses to achieve seamless AML and KYC compliance in South Africa with its cutting-edge identity verification solutions. Instantly verify customer identities and streamline user onboarding processes to meet KYC, AML, and data protection regulations with ease.

Book a free demo

South Africa Overview

With well-developed infrastructure and a largely stable economy, South Africa is an attractive destination for companies looking to set up shop for several reasons. South Africa is an incredibly diverse country with 11 official languages however it is important to note ID documents are only printed in English.

Regulatory Overview

KYC/AML regulations

AML/KYC regulations in South Africa are enforced by a number of regulators, including the:

Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)
Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC)
South African Reserve Bank (SARB)

The primary legislation governing KYC/AML in South Africa is the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) of 2001.

Choose Smile ID, your compliance partner for AML/KYC regulations in South Africa!

‍

Data protection regulations

South Africa’s Information Regulator is responsible for monitoring and enforcing the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) of 2013 which is the regulation safeguarding data protection in the country.

The FICA also contains provisions on data protection as it pertains to KYC/AML, requiring accountable institutions to keep customer records for up to 5 years from the last contact with the customer.

‍

Accurately authenticate and onboard users in South Africa

Scale your business in South Africa with Smile ID. We enable fast-growing businesses to stay compliant, prevent fraud, and easily streamline their user verification process with:

SA - Access to 3+ ID API Authorities covering over 80M+ ID records in S.A

SA - Verify up to 6 ID documents including National IDs, Passport, Driver's License, etc.

SA - Verify up to 3 ID numbers including National ID number, Phone Number, etc.

SA - De-biased models with a 99.8% accuracy for all African skin tones

SA - Image capture SDKs optimised for low bandwidth and all software versions as low as **Android 5.0**.

SA - Global AML Check against over 1100 global sanctions, PEPs, and adverse media watchlists.

SA - Enterprise-level security standard with ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 1 & 2 certifications.

Accurately verify up to 6 ID documents in South Africa

South African Identity Cards

South African identity cards are documents issued by the Department of Home Affairs to South African citizens and permanent residents. They serve as official proof of identity. Examples include National IDs, Green Book, Consular IDs & Diplomat IDs. The Smart-ID, an official biometric ID issued by the South African Department of Home Affairs to all citizens and permanent residents of the country, is the most commonly used national ID.

South African Passport

This is a travel document issued by the South African Department of Home Affairs to South African Citizens for the purpose of international travel. It is not a biometric document so it is considered less reliable for KYC purposes.

South African Resident ID

Also known as the Permanent Residence Permit, it is a document issued by the Department of Home Affairs to foreign nationals who have been granted permanent residency in South Africa.

South African Driver’s License

Although primarily used for driving purposes, the South African driving license, which the Department of Transport issues, is an admissible document for KYC purposes.

South African Seaman ID

These are documents issued to individuals working as seafarers, typically sailors or maritime workers. The Seaman ID is an identification document, while the Seaman Book is a record of the individual's employment and qualifications.

South African Travel Documents

This category encompasses all travelling documents requested at the South African border. Examples include valid Border crossing documents, Refugee documents, and Visas.

Verify South Africans using ID documents

Verifying users with ID documents and biometric face matching is one of the most reliable ways to determine a user's true identity. Our ID document verification solution checks that an ID document is authentic, accurately transcribes the text on the document and compares a user-submitted selfie to the document image.

Schedule a demo

Scan your document

Our image capture tools guide users to take clear photos even with older devices.

Smile for a selfie

Ensure the real user is behind the camera with a smile to test for liveness.

Get real-time results

In a few seconds, you will confirm the document is authentic and belongs to the user behind the camera.

Comprehensive Identity verification
(KYC/AML) solution in one place

Choose the best method to verify and onboard your customers efficiently.

Document Verification: Verify over 8500 documents across 220 countries globally, including Angola, with a 96% OCR accuracy.

Enhance your security with advanced authentication solutions.

Smartselfie Authentication: Protect your system with our AI-powered SmartSelfie Authentication solution, boasting a 99.8% accuracy rate for African faces. Integrate this into your multi-factor authentication system for accurate identity verification during access attempts.

Access all the tools you need to stop fraud in one place.

AML Check: Run AML checks on users against against 1100+ global and African sanctions, PEP, and adverse media lists.

Duplicate Account Prevention: Prevent duplicate account fraud with real-time scanning of previously registered faces during onboarding using our Smile Secure product.

Integration options

Seamlessly integrate our solutions via API or no-code option with your existing infrastructure to automate compliance.

Smile Links: A flexible, no-code option for creating customised user verification flows

SDKs: Available for iOS, Android, Hosted Web, Flutter, and React Native

Server-to-server libraries: Support for Ruby, Java, PHP, Python, and Node.js

REST API: Robust and flexible integration for efficient compliance automation

See what Smile ID can do in your market

Talk to Sales

View Developer docs