SA banks hit with R15 million fine
Capitec Bank and Deutsche Bank in South Africa were been hit with a collective R15 million fine in 2015, for not having the appropriate systems in place to stop money laundering and terrorist funding.
In it’s latest annual report, the South African Reserve Bank noted that in terms of the FIC Act, it is mandated to supervise and enforce banks’ compliance with the Act.
It also allows SARB to impose an administrative sanction on banks for failure to comply with the provisions of the Act, it said.
In the case of Capitec and Deutsche Bank, SARB nailed the banks with a R5 million and R10 million fine, respectively, for failing to comply with the Act in 2015.
Deutsche Bank was hit with a R10 million fine for failing to identify and verify customer details, as well as failing to have controls and systems in place relating to the “detection of property associated with terrorism and related activities”.
Capitec was hit for R5 million for failing to report cash-threshold transactions above R25,000 to the Financial Intelligence Centre – amounts often associated with money laundering.
Capitec, for its part, identified and resolved the FICA issues associated with the fine soon after they were identified in February 2015.
“The Department conducted a routine inspection at Deutsche Bank AG Johannesburg Branch (Deutsche Bank) during 2014, with the aim to assess whether appropriate measures and controls were in place to ensure compliance with the relevant provisions of the FIC Act,” the SARB said.
“During the same period, Capitec Bank Limited (Capitec) notified the Bank of instances of non-compliance relating to the cash-threshold reporting requirements as set out in the FIC Act.”
While the banks were fined on grounds related to money laundering and terrorist funding, the Reserve Bank stressed that the fines don’t mean that Deutsche Bank or Capitec actively facilitated transactions relating to money laundering and/or the financing of terrorism activities.
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