FSCA opens consultation on draft OMNI-Risk Return

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority has published the draft OMNI-Risk Return for comment, as well as its planned engagements with stakeholders on the Return.

The publication, on 30 September, of the draft OMNI-Risk Return marks the start of two months of consultation with the industry on the data that will be requested through the Return.

The OMNI-Risk Return, which replaces earlier plans for a Conduct of Business Return (OMNI-CBR), is a reporting tool, to collect standardised conduct-related data from financial institutions across various sectors.

The objective of the OMNI-Risk Return is to provide the FSCA with “a consistent, data-informed, and comparable view” of the risk exposure of all the financial institutions it supervises.

In June, the FSCA advised financial institutions not to initiate or continue with any internal OMNI-CBR-related initiatives or system development and implementation. This was because the Authority had decided to integrate the Return into its supervisory technology (SupTech) platform, called the Integrated Regulatory System (IRS).

Read: OMNI-CBR will be embedded in new supervisory technology platform

“The IRS is intended to deliver end-to-end SupTech services, covering the FSCA’s full supervisory lifecycle, from licensing through to supervision and enforcement. Central to this will be an automated risk model that integrates key data points from multiple sources to help enable a more efficient, integrated, and harmonised approach to supervision across all financial institutions,” Deputy Commissioner Farzana Badat said in Communication 19 of 2025.

“A significantly revised and streamlined version of the OMNI-CBR, namely the OMNI-Risk Return, will serve as the foundational data source feeding into the IRS’s automated risk model in future.”

The OMNI-Risk Return is structured around 12 broad risk categories or sections. Each section is designed to capture a distinct dimension of a financial institution’s operating environment, governance arrangements, and risk exposure.

The data collected will feed into a set of risk indicators used to generate a risk profile for each supervised entity. Each risk indicator is designed to assess an aspect of an institution’s activities or structure. Its risk rating will be adjusted up or down, depending on whether the automated assessment demonstrates a satisfactory control environment or signals potential vulnerabilities and heightened risks.

Timeline for implementation

The roll-out of the IRS rollout is divided into three phases:

• Phase 1 (completed), during which all existing reporting requirements were reviewed and integrated onto the IRS platform.
• Phase 2 (current) involves finalising the automated supervisory risk model and the OMNI-Risk Return. It includes stakeholder consultation, an industry pilot in mid-2026, and a full go-live in September 2026.
• Phase 3 (under development) focuses on reviewing and integrating the FSCA’s licensing, supervision, and enforcement processes.

Stakeholder engagement on the Return

The FSCA will engage with stakeholders via multiple channels to improve understanding of the OMNI-Risk Return and facilitate informed feedback.

Explanatory webinar

The FSCA has posted a recording of a high-level webinar on its YouTube channel. The video covers the background, context, and objectives of the Return, as well details of the consultation process and other engagement activities.

 

Virtual workshops

The Authority will host three workshops on Microsoft Teams in November, each focusing on specific sections of the Return, with question-and-answer sessions:

• Workshop 1: Monday, 3 November, 10am to 12pm; sections 1 to 4.
• Workshop 2: Tuesday, 4 November, 3pm to 5pm; sections 5 to 8.
• Workshop 3: Monday, 10 November, 10am to 12pm; sections 9 to 12.

Invitations will be sent via the industry distribution lists. Participation is limited to 250 people per workshop (first-come, first-served).

Recordings of the workshops will be shared on the FSCA’s platforms.

 

Additional engagements on request

Industry associations or individual institutions can request sessions to clarify specific issues before submitting their submissions on the Return. These will be prioritised based on the availability of FSCA staff.

 

OMNI-Risk Return webpage

The FSCA has created a dedicated page on its website to host OMNI-Risk Return resources, including webinar and workshop recordings.

Documents for consultation

Communication 19 of 2025 includes the draft OMNI-Risk Return template and the Explanatory Guide to the Return.

 

Draft Return template

The draft template is in Microsoft Excel Format, which is a temporary format for consultation purposes only. The final version will be embedded into the IRS and tested during the pilot in 2026.

The FSCA invites stakeholders to comment on the draft Return using the Microsoft Forms template. Comments that are not submitted on the template will be ignored.

The deadline for the submission of comments is 30 November.

The template is structured in line with the different sections of the Return, with each section allowing commentators to provide comments directly relevant to the specific data requested in the applicable section.

The final section of the template contains questions on specific aspects of the Return. Badat said the effectiveness of the Return, and by extension the newly developed supervisory risk model, depends heavily on the quality, accuracy, and completeness of the data provided. Therefore, the Authority is primarily seeking input on the following:

• Whether, and to what extent, the requested data is currently available within financial institutions.
• If the required data is currently being collected and maintained, whether financial institutions can extract and report it in the manner requested.
• If the required data is not yet being collected, an indication of how much time will be needed for financial institutions to be able to report it. Alternatively, what, if any, alternate data points are currently available to adequately meet the objectives of the section.

Badat said the answers to the above questions will be critical in helping the FSCA to determine appropriate and pragmatic transitional arrangements to support the sector in reaching a steady and comparable state of reporting through the Return over time.

 

Explanatory Guide

The Explanatory Guide is intended to aid understanding of the Return.

The Guide covers the following:

• Introduction to the FSCA’s harmonised supervisory risk model.
• How data from the OMNI-Risk Return will be used.
• Reporting frequency.
• Structure and objectives of the Return.
• Declaration requirements before submission.
• Overview of requested data and purposes for collecting specific data.

For more information, email FSCA_OMNIRiskReturnComments@fsca.co.za and copy Akashen.Rampersadh@fsca.co.za. These email addresses are for queries only, not comments on the Return.