South Africa’s Prudential Authority (PA) has disclosed administrative sanctions against HBZ Bank Limited for reporting failures under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, identified during a 2023 inspection. The sanctions comprise a ZAR 3 million financial penalty, three cautions against repeating the conduct and a reprimand. Of the penalty, ZAR 2 million is conditionally suspended for 36 months from May 19, 2026.
The financial penalty relates to HBZ’s failure to report 8.85% of sampled Cash Threshold Reports (CTRs) on time. Another finding concerned its failure to submit 4.5% of sampled CTRs. The bank also incorrectly reported 78% of sampled transactions to the Financial Intelligence Centre as Suspicious Activity Reports rather than Suspicious Transaction Reports. HBZ has cooperated with the PA to remedy the identified compliance deficiencies and control weaknesses.