Standard Bank : South African Reserve Bank imposes administrative sanctions on banks, including Standard Bank

16 April 2014

The South African Reserve Bank has imposed administrative sanctions and directives to implement remedial action on a number of banks, including The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited. The sanction, imposed on its South Africa operation, relates to the failure by it to ensure that appropriate measures were in place to comply fully with the relevant provisions of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.

In terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA), the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has to supervise and enforce banks' compliance with FICA to ensure that the necessary anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML & CFT) controls are in place.

Flowing from these responsibilities, SARB conducted AML & CFT inspections at various banks to assess whether the appropriate measures were in place to ensure compliance with the relevant provisions of FICA.

The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited has taken immediate remedial action to address the issues identified by the SARB and has initiated a programme to address the SARB findings. The required action plans will be closely monitored and progress will be tracked and reported to the SARB on a regular basis.

The SARB noted that the "administrative sanctions are not an indication that the banks in question have in any way facilitated transactions involving money laundering and the financing of terrorism".

For more on Standard Bank South Africa's Financial Intelligence Centre Act see www.standardbank.co.za.