Sarb fines two banks

HSBC announced SA exit, selling its corporate branch unit.

- Suren Naidoo

The Prudential Authority of South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) has fined HSBC Bank Plc and Bidvest Bank for non-compliance with provisions of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FIC Act), as it gets tougher on big banks in a push to get SA off the Financial Action Task Force's greylist.

Sarb announced imposing administrative sanctions on both banks late on Friday, just a week after also fining insurer Old Mutual for non-compliance.

Bank Plc "The Sarb has imposed administrative sanctions on HSBC Johannesburg Branch [HSBC] as a result of its non-compliance with the provisions of the FIC Act 38 of 2001, following a FIC Act inspection conducted in 2021," the central bank said.

"The administrative sanctions are due to its failure to comply with certain provisions of the FIC Act and consist of three cautions and a financial penalty totalling R9.5 million, of which R4 million is conditionally suspended for a period of 36 months as from 10 June 2024," it added.

Not so coincidently, HSBC announced its planned exit from South Africa last week.