Prudential Authority imposes sanctions on Standard Bank

Noncompliance with Fica earns it six cautions and R13m in fines

24 January 2025 - 20:21
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The Prudential Authority says Standard Bank co-operated with it and has undertaken the necessary remedial action.
The Prudential Authority says Standard Bank co-operated with it and has undertaken the necessary remedial action.
Image: Freddy Mavundla

The Prudential Authority (PA) announced it has imposed administrative sanctions on Standard Bank of South Africa (SBSA) and fined it R13m as a result of its noncompliance with certain provisions of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) Act. 

“The administrative sanctions imposed on SBSA are due to its failure to comply with certain provisions of the FIC Act and consist of six cautions not to repeat the conduct which led to the noncompliance and a financial penalty totalling R13m,” the authority said on Friday. It is responsible for the prudential regulation of banks and insurance companies within the South African Reserve Bank.

In one of the sanctions where the bank was fined R4m, the PA found the bank had failed to timeously report 17,259 suspicious and unusual transaction reports (STRs) and/or suspicious and unusual activity reports (SARs) to the FIC.

Another transgression which saw the bank fined R1m was when it failed to report one STR to the FIC. The bank was also fined R8m because 75,729 automated transaction monitoring system alerts were not timeously attended to within 48 hours and 94,558 STR/SAR alerts were closed beyond the 15-day reporting period in terms of the FIC Act regulations. 

“The PA confirms that SBSA co-operated with the PA and has undertaken the necessary remedial action to address the identified compliance deficiencies and control weaknesses.” 

TimesLIVE 


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