South Africa and global insurance, financial institutions, banking and general law know–how
The Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) has published a new blog on Open Finance, noting that South African regulatory authorities have started looking at open finance as it relates to their respective mandates.
What is open finance? The premise of “open finance” is to give customers the ability to access and share their own…
In November 2020, the FSCA released a draft declaration to include crypto assets as ‘financial products’ under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002. The effect of the draft declaration, once made final, would be that any person providing advice or intermediary services in relation to crypto assets would need to be licensed as…
There has been considerable media attention over the last few weeks on account closures by banks. Although there are no statutory requirements in this regard (the Banks Act, 1990 for example, is silent on the issue of account closures), it is not the case that a bank has an unfettered discretion regarding account closures. An…
In recognition of the increase in the adoption of digital channels by financial consumers, in late 2021 the FSCA published a Digital Banking Research Report on the state of digital banking activities in South Africa. The term “digital banking” refers to the digitisation of traditional banking services in order to more efficiently deliver financial services…
In a welcomed development, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority has established a YouTube channel (https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCh3dQcOQAzdptNTKFQvB7HQ/about). The channel is a useful resource and provides valuable insight as to the FSCA’s stance on certain issues. Check out their latest videos:
How to establish a FAIS compliance function: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlnMYmwlj1Y
How the FSCA complies to PAIA: https://youtu.be/TdUUOEckfB0…
In a draft declaration issued on 20 November 2020, the FSCA proposed to include crypto assets as a category of financial product under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (“FAIS”). We wrote about this previously, here.
Speaking to the draft declaration in a September 2021 media briefing, Ms Olaotse…
Anyone embarking on a FAIS process to debar a financial service provider or representative would do well to read a recent Financial Services Tribunal decision setting out what constitutes a lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair process. The matter is Mothei v Advicecube (FSP35/20).
The decision sets out the statutory and regulatory basis for debarment…
On 20 November 2020, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority issued a draft Declaration of Crypto Assets as a Financial Product under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 2002 (FAIS Act). The Declaration will be made in terms paragraph (h) of the definition of ‘financial product’ in the FAIS Act, which provides that a financial…
On 28 September 2020, National Treasury released the second draft Bill regulating the conduct of Financial Institutions, for comment.
The aim of the Bill is to impose conduct standards for financial institutions to protect financial customers.
The Bill is the second peak of the Twin Peaks model and will require market conduct that…
Financial services providers (FSPs) registered under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act 2002 fall within the ambit of ‘accountable institutions’ under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 2001. As accountable institutions, these FSPs are obliged to comply with the FIC Act and are subject to oversight by the FSCA.
The FSCA has recently investigated compliance…
