Standard Bank – Africa\u2019s biggest bank – is watching developments in cryptocurrencies but isn\u2019t jumping into the market just yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe move with the world, but you don\u2019t want to be the leaders on some of these things,\u201d Lungisa Fuzile, chief executive officer of Standard Bank South Africa business, told Jennifer Zabasajja Thursday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. \u201cYou want to be fast followers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standard Bank, Africa\u2019s largest lender by assets, will instead monitor the evolution of digital currencies while being mindful of the risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are very interested, we manage our explorations carefully, we do them with heightened interest when we collaborate with our regulators and other banks in the system to understand them better,\u201d Fuzile said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of South Africa\u2019s lenders have so far declined to provide banking services to crypto platforms, citing risks and the lack of clear regulation for digital instruments in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The South African Reserve Bank has set up working groups to study digital assets and encouraged lenders to provide banking services to crypto exchanges to give the regulator greater visibility into the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority will require crypto exchanges in South Africa to get licenses by the end of the year, making Africa\u2019s most developed economy the first on the continent to put crypto rules on its books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Finders Cryptocurrency Adoption Index, more than one in ten South Africans own some sort of crypto coin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n