High Court orders FSP to pay balance due to client’s executor
The Western Cape High Court has ordered an FSP to pay an executor the balance due on a loan of R1 million, plus costs, after rejecting the company’s defence that its obligations in […]
Stricter reporting obligations for crypto-asset transactions
From 1 March, new frameworks will impose expanded due diligence and information-exchange obligations on exchanges, custodians and banks.
The past four years have not been kind to independent financial advisers
General Notice 1258 of 2022 – Levies on Financial Institutions was published on 29 August and effectively put paid to any further concessions from the regulator to alleviate the plight of an industry […]
Treasury publishes omnibus anti-money laundering bill
The process to address deficiencies in the country’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing legislation got under way this week after Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana tabled the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating […]
Information from ‘an industry player’ prompted Competition Commission’s investigation into life insurers
Information received “from one of the players in the industry” prompted the Competition Commission to launch its investigation into alleged price fixing by some of the country’s major life insurers. This was all […]
New accountable institutions will be given time to bed down Fica compliance
The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) will work with entities that become accountable institutions in terms of the amendments to the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica), to help them bed down compliance with the […]
JSE fines former Steinhoff CFO a total of R2 million
The JSE has disqualified Steinhoff’s former chief financial officer, Ben la Grange, from acting as a company director for 10 years and fined him a total of R2 million. La Grange served as […]
CMS says Health Squared didn’t stick to business plans designed to address problem areas
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has published its version of the sequence of events that resulted in Health Squared’s finances deteriorating to the extent that it will apply for voluntary liquidation this […]
OECD calls for VAT hike to help fund permanent grant
South Africa should make the R350-a-month Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant permanent, increase the rate of value-added tax from 15% to 17%, and reform the “distortive” personal income tax system, the Organisation […]
Court victory for Sars whistleblower
Two former executives of the South African Revenue Service (Sars), who were dismissed “for operational requirements” during the controversial Bain restructuring of the tax authority, have been reinstated to their previous positions. Johannesburg […]
Nedbank to pay R2m fine for unapproved merger with Erf 7
Nedbank has agreed to pay a fine of R2 million for implementing a transaction before obtaining the approval from the competition authorities, the Competition Tribunal said last week. In a statement, the authority […]
Did Sweden’s controversial Covid strategy pay off?
As much of the world shut down early in the Covid pandemic, Sweden remained open. The country’s approach was controversial, with some calling it “the Swedish experiment”. But almost two-and-a-half years after the […]
Discovery challenges RAF decision to stop paying members’ claims
Discovery Health has launched an urgent application to stop the Road Accident Fund (RAF) from rejecting valid medical claims submitted by members of medical schemes. Discovery contends that the RAF Act does not […]
FAIS Ombud answers our questions about Sharemax determinations
The FAIS Ombud, Advocate Nonku Tshombe, says it is impossible to blame the collapse of the Sharemax property syndications on the intervention of the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) unless “pertinent questions” about […]
CMS to oppose Health Squared’s bid for voluntary liquidation
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) was engaged in discussions with seven schemes to consider options for members of Health Squared, which intends to apply for voluntary liquidation on 1 September. In a […]
FSCA publishes notices issued to FSPs for Fica non-compliance
Last week, the FSCA informed subscribers to its communications that it has published, on its website, the notices of administrative sanctions that it issued to 11 FSPs for non-compliance with the Financial Intelligence […]
Asisa releases report on transformation scorecards of life offices and asset managers
Life offices and asset managers represented by the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (Asisa) have collectively made progress towards achieving the transformation targets set by the amended Financial Sector Code (FSC), […]
Discovery’s new DFM aims to capitalise on offshore investment opportunities
Discovery Group this week announced the launch of its discretionary fund manager (DFM), Cogence, which will give financial advisers access to portfolio analytics and risk analysis tools developed by the world’s largest asset […]
