Why banks ditched the Guptas

In the current political environment of media leaks and vendettas, it is perhaps surprising that no one in the media has managed to find out exactly why it was that Barclays Africa decided to close the bank accounts of the Gupta-owned Oakbay Investments.

One reason is that among what seems like chaos and the gradual disintegration of the state, the integrity of SA’s banking institutions is holding strong. The other was the reinstatement of Pravin Gordhan as finance minister.

I suspect the banks were uncomfortable with some of the transactions in the Oakbay accounts for some time prior to their decision to sever ties. In terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica), banks are required to report any suspicious and unusual transactions to the Financial Intelligence Centre.

Read the full opinion piece on BDlive