Publication: Retail Banking Diagnostic: Treating Customers Fairly in Relation to Transactional Accounts and Fixed Deposits
Date
2018-06
ISSN
Published
2018-06
Author(s)
World Bank Group
Abstract
At the request of the National Treasury
of the Republic of South Africa, the World Bank Group (WBG)
undertook a Retail Banking Diagnostic focusing on the
provision of consumer transactional accounts and fixed
deposits by retail banks in South Africa. The aim of the
Retail Banking Diagnostic was to identify potential
deficiencies from a fair-treatment perspective in banks’
provision of such accounts and deposits, and whether and how
any identified major fair-treatment deficiencies could
appropriately be addressed through market conduct
regulation, having regard to international good practices
and the South African market context. A WBG team visited
South Africa in April 2017 and undertook discussions to
inform the diagnostic with regulators, a range of banks
offering consumer transactional accounts and fixed deposits,
relevant financial sector ombud schemes, and industry and
consumer bodies. Further discussions and inquiries and
desk-based research were undertaken following the visit.
Except where stated otherwise, the report reflects research
undertaken up to September 2017, and it does not cover
developments after that time. This report sets out the
findings of the diagnostic and provides recommendations for
regulatory improvements and related measures for
consideration by the South African authorities. Where the
report recommends legal measures to address an issue, it is
envisaged that these would be implemented either through
fair-treatment conduct standards made by the FSCA pursuant
to section 106 of the recently passed Financial Sector
Regulation Act 2017 (FSR Act) or, in due course, through the
Conduct of FinancialInstitutions Bill (COFI Bill) being
developed by the National Treasury, and subordinate
legislation, such as Standards, to be developed under the
resulting COFI Act (referred to collectively in the report
as the “COFI/FSR Laws”).
Citation
“World Bank Group. 2018. Retail Banking Diagnostic: Treating Customers Fairly in Relation to Transactional Accounts and Fixed Deposits. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30402 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”