Desiree Reddy (ZA)

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Twin Peaks signed into law

By Desiree Reddy (ZA) and Sascha Graham on August 23, 2017 Posted in General

The Financial Sector Regulation Bill was signed into law by President Zuma on 21 August 2017. The commencement dates for the new Financial Sector Regulation Act (FSR Act) are not yet known. The act provides the architecture for the new ‘twin peaks’ method of regulation to be adopted across the South African financial services industry, … Continue reading

Twin Peaks refresher

By Desiree Reddy (ZA) and Sascha Graham on July 10, 2017 Posted in General

The Financial Sector Regulation Bill was passed by Parliament and sent to the President for assent on 22 June 2017. The Bill provides the architecture for the new twin peaks method of regulation to be adopted across the South African financial services industry. While the immediate effect of the passing of the Financial Sector Regulation … Continue reading

Proposed amendments to the JSE Derivatives Rules and Directives

By Desiree Reddy (ZA) on December 11, 2016 Posted in Banking

The Financial Services Board, acting in terms of the Financial Markets Act 2012, has published proposed amendments to the JSE Derivatives Rules and Directives. The proposed amendments deal with: The buying and selling of derivative securities; and Derivative transactions that take place off the JSE’s Automatic Trading System (ATS). The ATS is the computerised facility which … Continue reading

Margin requirements for derivatives – but which OTC’s will be affected?

By Bridget King and Desiree Reddy (ZA) on August 6, 2015 Posted in Banking

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association Inc. (ISDA) indicated that South Africa has been in focus over recent months since the margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives transactions were published for comment in June 2015. The aim of the requirements is to outline the future regulation of OTC derivatives in South Africa in line with … Continue reading

The regulation of hedge funds

By Lance Roderick and Desiree Reddy (ZA) on March 5, 2015 Posted in Banking

In the first formal step toward hedge fund regulation in South Africa, National Treasury has published a s63 declaration under the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act, 2002 (CISCA). Investment funds conducting the business of a hedge fund will, from 1 April 2015, become collective investment schemes (CIS) and will be regulated by CISCA. Hedge funds … Continue reading

Regulation of derivatives: mandatory central clearing

By Desiree Reddy (ZA) on February 5, 2015 Posted in Banking

What is a derivative? Although ‘derivative’ is a commonly used term, there is often confusion over what a derivative actually is. A derivative is a type of financial instrument whose price is determined by reference to one or more underlying assets, such as shares, currencies or interest rates. Derivatives may either be traded on an … Continue reading

An increased costs trap – Practical advice for SA Financial Institutions

By Steve Chemaly and Desiree Reddy (ZA) on January 23, 2015 Posted in Banking

The Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) was introduced with the implementation of Basel III, and is designed to ensure that financial institutions have the necessary assets on hand to ride out short-term liquidity disruptions. Two important elements of the LCR that are especially relevant to South African banks are: 1. The LCR in South Africa was … Continue reading

Sanctions on Russian and Ukrainian entities

By Desiree Reddy (ZA) on August 5, 2014 Posted in Banking

The European Union, the USA and Canada have imposed sanctions on a number of Russian and Ukrainian individuals and legal entities. The nature and scope of the sanctions are explained in this briefing. If a bank has entered into credit risk mitigation arrangements with Russian or Ukrainian counterparties, or relating to Russian or Ukrainian assets, … Continue reading

FATCA reporting from 1 July 2014

By Desiree Reddy (ZA) on June 27, 2014 Posted in Banking

Enacted in 2010, the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) seeks to prevent tax abuses by US persons living or operating outside of the US. FATCA imposes a 30% withholding tax on payments of US source income made to non-US financial institutions, unless they enter into an agreement with the US Internal Revenue Service … Continue reading

POPI takes its first steps

By Desiree Reddy (ZA) on April 14, 2014 Posted in General

After much anticipation, an important milestone in the road to commencement of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPI), has been reached. From 11 April 2014, the following sections of POPI are operational: Section 1, which contains the definitions and sets out the purpose of POPI; Part A of Chapter 5 (sections 39 to 54), … Continue reading