Capitec hit with R28 million in fines for five different financial-crime compliance failures
Capitec Bank has been hit with R28 million in financial penalties by the Prudential Authority (PA) after an inspection found several failures to comply with South Africa’s anti-money-laundering and financial-crime laws.
The sanctions relate to an inspection conducted by the PA in 2023 under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FIC Act), which gives the regulator powers to supervise and enforce compliance by accountable institutions.
The total R28 million penalty comprises five separate financial penalties linked to different compliance failures.
The largest penalty is R10 million for inadequate customer due diligence. The PA found that Capitec failed to conduct adequate due diligence on sampled client files, as required under section 21 of the FIC Act.
Of this penalty, R3 million was conditionally suspended for 36 months from 13 October 2025.
A further R5 million penalty was imposed because Capitec failed to conduct adequate enhanced due diligence on sampled client files.
Enhanced due diligence involves additional checks and monitoring where customers or transactions present higher money-laundering or financial crime risks.
Of this amount, R1 million was conditionally suspended for 36 months. Another R5 million penalty relates to inadequate ongoing due diligence.
The PA found that Capitec did not sufficiently maintain and update customer information and risk assessments on the sampled files. Again, R1 million of the penalty was conditionally suspended for 36 months.
The fourth penalty, amounting to R3 million, relates to employee training. The PA found that Capitec failed to provide ongoing training to the sampled employees as required by the FIC Act.
The final R5 million penalty relates to broader weaknesses in the bank’s compliance framework. Of this amount, R500,000 was conditionally suspended for 36 months.
The PA said Capitec failed to obtain management approval for its business banking anti-money-laundering name-screening and payment-screening investigation manuals before implementation.
Capitec has cooperated with the PA
It also found that Capitec could not provide evidence that it had documented and approved end-to-end processes for terrorist property reporting before receiving an inspection notification from the PA.
In addition, the bank had not adequately developed, documented or provided for policies, procedures, standards and controls relating to terrorist property reporting and financial sanctions in its Risk Management and Compliance Programme.
Taken together, the five penalties total R28 million:
- R10 million for customer due diligence;
- R5 million for enhanced due diligence;
- R5 million for ongoing due diligence;
- R3 million for employee training; and
- R5 million for weaknesses in its compliance framework.
However, not all of the R28 million is immediately payable. A combined R5.5 million has been conditionally suspended for 36 months from 13 October 2025.
This consists of R3 million from the first penalty, R1 million from the second, R1 million from the third and R500,000 from the fifth.
The sanctions also include five cautions ordering Capitec not to repeat the conduct that resulted in the respective non-compliance.
The PA said the sanctions were imposed following its inspection and are intended to ensure that Capitec complies with the requirements of the FIC Act.
Capitec has cooperated with the PA in addressing the problems identified during the inspection. The regulator said the bank has taken steps to remediate the identified compliance deficiencies and control weaknesses.
The case highlights the importance of banks maintaining effective controls to identify customers, monitor transactions and detect potential money laundering, terrorist financing and breaches of financial sanctions.
The FIC Act places these obligations on accountable institutions, with the PA responsible for supervising compliance in the banking sector.
The full statement by the PA can be viewed below:
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