Prudential Authority warns of AI-accelerated cyber attacks
Financial institutions must move beyond monitoring and focus on resilience, containment, and recovery under compressed timelines.
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PA publishes revised public disclosure standard for insurers
The revised draft standard sets out detailed qualitative and quantitative public disclosure requirements and is open for comment.
Regulators step in as AI adoption exposes new financial risks
As AI-driven incidents increase, insurers face mounting pressure to replace implicit cover with explicit policies tailored to new technological risks.
Ithala pulled back from the edge, but its future remains in doubt
The Prudential Authority has withdrawn its liquidation bid after progress on depositor repayments, but Ithala is still unlicensed and cannot resume deposit-taking.
Tribunal upholds PA decision on bank’s ‘simulated’ capital transaction
The FST dismisses African Bank’s application to overturn a directive to reverse a R685m intra-group transaction, finding it lacked commercial substance.
Key fintech policy developments to watch in 2026
Regulatory initiatives across payments, digital assets, open finance and embedded finance are expected to progress this year.
Cyber compliance is now a mandatory aspect of an FSP’s risk management
With data breaches costing firms tens of millions per incident, Joint Standard 2 forces financial institutions to strengthen governance, monitoring, and incident response.
Ithala depositor payouts to continue through 2026 with three-year claim window
FNB has disbursed over R1 billion to Ithala customers and is sending about 5 000 SMS notifications per day to schedule branch visits.
Rulings define scope of PA’s powers under transitional insurance laws
The Tribunal and the High Court delivered key decisions emphasising proportional enforcement and the proper use of transitional provisions.
Transitional delegations under the FSRA pushed to 2028/29
New end-dates extend the temporary allocation of certain supervisory duties to the FSCA and PA while regulatory frameworks are finalised.
Relief at last: Ithala depositors can access frozen funds from 8 December
Treasury’s R2.2bn intervention ends an 11-month account freeze, unlocking payouts for Ithala’s 257 000 depositors while the liquidation case continues.
FSCA and PA publish comprehensive study into AI use in financial sector
The regulators will issue a discussion paper to clarify governance, disclosure, and consumer-protection expectations.
PA fines Discovery Bank R3m for FICA compliance failures
A 2021 inspection found late submission of suspicious activity reports, inadequate staff training, delayed monitoring responses, and shortcomings in the bank’s RMCP.
High Court rules on SARS’s R5.3bn claim against Sasfin Bank
The judgment dismissed parts of Sasfin’s exceptions and left SARS’s statutory claim under the Financial Sector Regulation Act to proceed.
Regulators invite comment on draft IT and cyber incident reporting rules
Financial institutions subject to Joint Standards 1 of 2023 and 2 of 2024 are asked to provide feedback by 5 October 2025.
PA publishes its proposed levy and fee increases for 2026/27
The Authority expects to reduce its budget deficit by 28%, driven by a 3.3% revenue uplift and planned cost-cutting measures to streamline operations.
SARB moves to liquidate community bank
Ditsobotla is in worse financial shape than previously thought, and the resolution process is unlikely to turn things around.
