Standard Bank has done nothing wrong in closing the bank accounts of international businessman John Bredenkamp due to his alleged links with Zimbabwe, the Supreme Court of Appeal has held.

Judge Louis Harms, in a unanimous judgment by five appeal judges, dismissed an appeal by Bredenkamp and three entities belonging to him, against a high court judgment.

Bredenkamp and the three had sought an order preventing Standard Bank from closing their accounts.

The bank's decision in 2008 came after the US Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) listed Bredenkamp and the entities as "special designated nationals", because of their supposed links with the Zimbabwean government.

This meant they became subject to the sanctions imposed and enforced by Ofac. The listing led to a similar move by European Union authorities.

The high court accepted the bank had, in terms of its contract with Bredenkamp and the entities and in terms of the common law, the right to close the accounts with reasonable notice. It dismissed the application.

Bredenkamp however contended the bank's decision was unfair because it was unlikely they would be able to obtain other banking facilities.

The SCA held that the closing of the accounts was not unfair under the circumstances of the case.

Judge Harms held the bank did not make any moral judgment during its decision, but made a business decision to protect its reputation.

"It gave the appellants a reasonable time to take their business elsewhere," the judgment reads.

Harms said the termination did not offend any identifiable constitutional value and was not otherwise contrary to any other public policy consideration.

The SCA said Standard Bank did not publicise the closure or the reasons for its decision. It was Bredenkamp who made these facts public by launching the legal proceedings and requiring Standard Bank to disclose its reasons for closing the accounts.