Rates At First National Bank, First National Bank’s “Attorneys Trust Account”, offers preferential and standardised rates of interest on Attorneys Trust current account credit balances as follows: update done due to repo rate change on 22 November 2018. Repo rate increased with 25 basis points. Revised credit interest rates advised by Fnb on 28 November 2018. *Please note: the credit interest rate quoted below is subject to change at any time, without notice.
| Forms of scams | Considerations to be made by the legal firm |
| The perpetrator will call the firm and advise that they mistakenly deposited an amount into the firm’s trust or business account when it was meant for another firm and would like a refund. | Depending on the form of the attempted scam, a legal firm should consider the following: Know your clients and check any and all provided details against the details that you already have in your records. |
| Ascertain if your firm is expecting any refunds, whether for audit fees or bank charges and what the amounts applied for are. | |
| The perpetrator will advise the firm that an incorrect amount was refunded in respect of a refund application for audit fees and/or bank charges. They will then ask for a refund of a portion of the amount. | |
| Check if the letterhead used is that of the purported stakeholder. This necessitates knowledge of the correct name of the stakeholder, the current logo of the stakeholder and the directors or senior personnel of the stakeholder, which would be reflected on the letterhead. | |
| Check if the e-mail address used is that of the purported stakeholder. It is important to know the extension of the e- mail addresses of the purported stakeholder. For instance, the e-mail addresses of the AFF have the extension fidfund.co.za after the @ sign, fraudsters would perhaps use an email address with an extension fidelityfund.co.za after the @ sign. | |
| The perpetrator will call the firm purporting to be a client of the firm and ask for banking details of the firm in order to make a deposit. A few days later, the perpetrator will make another call suggesting that they incorrectly paid money into the account. | |
| Check if the quoted amount was received in your trust or business account as claimed. | |
| Check on the bank statement if the amount was paid in cash or cheque. | |
| The perpetrator will send an e-mail to the firm advising that an amount was incorrectly paid into the firm’s trust or business account when it was meant for another firm. | If the amount was received as a cheque deposit, do not be pressured to make a refund until the cheque has been cleared and confirmed as such with the bank. The perpetrator will apply pressure on you to refund them, do not succumb to the pressure. |
| The perpetrator will send post mail to the firm advising that an amount was incorrectly paid into the firm’s trust or business account when it was meant for another firm. | Inform the person requesting a refund that you will process a refund of the money as soon as it is cleared on your account and ask for proof of the deposit. |
| Ask the person requiring a refund to provide you with their banking details. It is important to know your stakeholders’ bankers and perhaps their bank details. Remember, the banking system recognises an account number and not an account name. The perpetrator can therefore, give you an account name of your stakeholder that they are purportedly representing, but the account number will not be that of the stakeholder. | |
| Inform the stakeholder affected before you even consider a refund. | |
| When informing the purported stakeholder, do not use any of the contact details provided by the purported stakeholder representative, check the legitimate contact details on the stakeholder’s website or inquire with your provincial law society. | |
| Fraudsters may purport to be an existing client and provide a different account number into which money due to them should be paid. | Whenever a client that you are providing legal services to provides or changes an account number to pay into, insist on a bank stamped proof of that account. |
| A fraudster may hijack the identity of a senior partner in the practice, and send an e-mail to the bookkeeper containing a payment instruction. | Carefully check the sender’s e-mail address to establish its veracity, and if there is any doubt, obtain confirmation that the e-mail is genuine. |
| BALANCE TIERS | RATE EFFECTIVE 29 March 2018 | |
| 1 | 1.10 % | |
| 1 000 | 1.20 % | |
| 10 000 | 1.30 % | |
| 25 000 | 1.30 % | |
| 50 000 | 1.35 % | |
| 100 000 | 2.35 % | |
| 250 000 | 2.45 %. | |
| 500 000 | 2.55 % | |
| 1 000 000 | 3.40% | |
| 2 500 000 | 3.50 % | |
| 5 000 000 | 3.95 % | |
| 10 000 000 | 4.00 % | |
| 30 000 000 | 4.10 % |
These preferential interest rates may also be found on FNB’s website at https://www.fnb.co.za/rates/AttorneyTrustAccount.html. Repo Rate increased with 25 basis points on 2018-11-22.
| Attorney Trust Accounts | 2018 July 1/2018 June 30 | ||||||
| Sub Product Codes | DDA MT | ||||||
| Charge Types | Pay-As-You-Use Charge Type BV | ||||||
| Monthly Account Fee | R 55.00 | ||||||
| Cheque Service Fee | R71.00 per cheque issued, Fee (Formula ) , ( 71.00/71.00/71.00) | ||||||
| Cheque Deposit Fee | R30.00 +R2.10 per cheque (maximum R100) | ||||||
| Cash Deposit, FNB ATM with deposits. | R4.00 +0.58 per R100 or part thereof. | ||||||
| Cash Deposits FNB Branch | R8.68+ R1.28 per R100 or part thereof. (min R25.00) | ||||||
| INWARD Unpaid | R 132.00 per item. | ||||||
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The above pricing is effective from 1 July 2018 until 30 June 2019.(Terms and Conditions apply). All other fees pertaining to the “Attorneys Trust Account Scheme” can be accessed on FNB’s website – Pricing Guide – Business Banking. First National Bank’s code for this product is DDA; sub-product MT.
In May 2004 First National Bank introduced its Managed Enhancement System to automate and streamline monthly transmission of interest, net of recoverable bank charges, to Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund. This service is provided at no extra charge for Attorneys who choose to benefit from its functionality.