Banks obliged to ensure that clients abide by the law, says Basa
In an attempt to clarify ongoing speculation following Standard Bank and Nedbank’s move last week to sever ties with the Gupta-linked Oakbay Resources, the Banking Association of South Africa (Basa) on Thursday released a statement to account for the regulatory considerations that all banks needed to undertake when assessing client relationships.
Basa explained that South African banks were obliged to ensure that their clients abided by the regulations of the current Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica), including impending amendments to this Act, as well as anti-money-laundering regulations.
With this in mind, it was incumbent on all banks to conduct a detailed due diligence on clients, especially those who were in the public domain, said the association.
“Such due diligence is conducted on an ongoing basis to ensure the bank is aware of any significant changes in the affairs of the client, particularly to satisfy itself that a client is abiding by Fica regulations and anti-money-laundering regulations,” it said, adding that each bank had respect for client confidentiality and that the actions taken by other banks were always considered separately.
Basa also noted that banks were one of the most stringently regulated businesses in the country, as they held “public deposits in trust” and, therefore, had to conduct business in a way that did not put the economy at risk.
“A bank will take these matters into account when considering ongoing relationships with clients, and will take appropriate action, based on the circumstances.”
MD Cas Coovadia added that each bank would also consider “its own business model, risk models and other matters specific to that bank’s business in making such decisions”.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest News
Showroom
Rittal is a world leading provider of top-quality integrated systems for enclosures, power distribution, climate control, IT infrastructure and...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Supplier & Distributor of the Widest Range of Accurate & Easy-to-Use Alcohol Breathalysers
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
