Compliance - Regulatory / General

ESG disclosure framework in the pipeline for South African financial services companies

Financial Intelligence Centre welcomes cabinet approval for General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering And Combating Terrorism Financing) Amendment Bill, 2022

Re-harmonising the dump-truck full of FS laws

My heart goes out to the compliance professionals that have to wade through the rising tide of laws and regulations applicable to South Africa’s financial services providers (FSPs) and product providers. Likewise, my thoughts to the struggling small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) plying their trade in the fast-paced worlds of financial and risk advice. It is hard enough to meet month-to-month operational targets these days without worrying about the new laws being conjured up by the twin peaks regulators. Things are so stretched that even the regulators struggle to keep up, as we discovered during a recent compliance presentation, hosted by Compli-Serve.

Property syndication decision… target practice?

The Financial Services Tribunal (FST), which replaced the Financial Services Board (FSB) Appeals Board from 1 April 2018, is taking a no-nonsense approach when reconsidering ‘decisions by financial services decisionmakers’, as illustrated by recent appeals against property syndication related determinations. In a recent application for the reconsideration of a determination made by the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Ombud, the FST lambasted the Ombud for “not only failing to interrogate the first respondent’s version, [but also] championing the first respondent’s cause, instead of being an impartial adjudicator”.