Earlier this week, the Real Estate Agents Licensing Board (REALB) hosted two fruitful Talanoa Sessions along with a training session for salespersons.
The first Talanoa Session took place at the Tanoa Waterfront Hotel in Lautoka, drawing a crowd of 29 attendees. The subsequent session, held yesterday at the Albert Park Pavilion Hall, also saw a total of 29 participants in attendance.
The Talanoa Session served as a platform for real estate professionals to engage in open dialogue and gain valuable insights into addressing critical issues within the industry.
The sessions included a guest speaker, Ms. Ama Gavidi, who serves as the Senior Policy & Compliance Analyst at the Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
"You must monitor your customers transactions for any complex, unusual or large transactions, unusual patterns of transactions or activities," she said.
"A suspicious transaction is when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that a transaction (s) related to money laundering, or other serious offence example fraud, robbery, tax evasion etc."
"It includes attempted transactions/deals (even if minimal details are collected). It also applies to all types of transaction regardless of whether cash is involved and the amount of transaction."
Ms. Gavidi also imparted her expertise on various topics, including:
*Stages of money laundering
*Real Estate Agents obligations under the FTR Act
*Monitoring customers transactions
*Suspicious Transaction Report (STR)
*Cash Transaction Report (CTR)
*Self-Training Awareness
*AML Compliance Officer
Furthermore, the REALB team also facilitated salesperson training with RE/MAX Tropics in Lautoka.
During the refresher course the salespersons were reminded about their roles and responsibilities highlighted under the Real Estate Agents Act 2006.
In his presentation REALB compliance and monitoring officer Vinal Singh reminded the salespersons to refrain from engaging in any form of illegal activities.
The training covered the legislative requirements for salespersons, how the Board handles complaints and the disciplinary actions.
REALB is committed to promoting professionalism, ethical conduct, and a supportive environment within the real estate sector.
