The South African Reserve Bank’s Prudential Authority (PA) has imposed administrative sanctions on The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (SBSA) for non-compliance with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FIC Act), following a 2022 inspection under section 45B. The sanctions comprise six cautions not to repeat the conduct and a financial penalty totalling ZAR 13 million. The non-compliance findings covered shortcomings in ongoing due diligence for two clients, including no due diligence reviews undertaken in 2018 and 2019; record-keeping failures relating to the dates of submission for 43 suspicious and unusual transaction reports (STRs) or suspicious and unusual activity reports (SARs); late reporting of 1,466 cash transaction reports and/or cash transaction aggregation reports; late reporting of 17,259 STRs and/or SARs, attracting a ZAR 4 million penalty; and failure to report one STR, attracting a ZAR 1 million penalty. Breaches of FIC Act Directive 5 of 2019 included 75,729 automated transaction monitoring alerts not attended to within 48 hours and 94,558 STR/SAR alerts closed beyond the 15-day reporting period in regulation 24(3), resulting in a ZAR 8 million penalty. The PA noted that SBSA cooperated and has undertaken remedial action to address the identified compliance deficiencies and control weaknesses.
South African Reserve Bank 2025-01-24
South African Reserve Bank Prudential Authority imposes administrative sanctions and ZAR 13 million penalty on Standard Bank for Financial Intelligence Centre Act breaches
The South African Reserve Bank's Prudential Authority has sanctioned The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited for non-compliance with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, following a 2022 inspection. Sanctions include six cautions and a ZAR 13 million penalty for due diligence failures, record-keeping issues, and late transaction reporting. The bank has cooperated and initiated remedial actions to address these deficiencies.