The Prudential Authority of the Reserve Bank, tasked with ensuring compliance under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (Fica), has imposed administrative sanctions on Standard Bank.
The sanctions include six formal cautions and financial penalties amounting to R13m.
This action follows a 2022 inspection that revealed noncompliance with certain provisions of Fica.
The Financial Intelligence Centre monitors financial transactions for money laundering or terror financing and plans to impose heavy penalties on firms that fail to submit the required returns.
These measures are intended to address compliance deficiencies and strengthen adherence to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations.
The administrative sanctions stem from the following noncompliance by Standard Bank:
- Ongoing Due Diligence Lapses: Standard Bank failed to conduct ongoing due diligence for two clients in 2018 and 2019.
- Record-Keeping Deficiencies: Standard Bank neglected to maintain records of submission dates for 43 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) and suspicious activity reports (SARs).
- Delayed Cash Transaction Reporting: Standard Bank did not report 1,466 cash transactions in a timely manner.
- Delays in STR/SAR Reporting: Standard Bank failed to timeously report 17,259 STRs/SARs.
- Missed Reporting of a Suspicious Transaction: A single STR went unreported.
- Directive 5 Violations: Standard Bank failed to process 75,729 transaction monitoring alerts within 48 hours and closed 94,558 STR/SAR alerts beyond the regulatory 15-day period.
Standard Bank said in a statement they fully co-operated with the inspection by the Reserve Bank and took immediate remedial action to ensure that it meets all the regulatory requirements set down by the Prudential Authority.
"The bulk of the findings in respect of which the financial penalty was imposed, relate to the monitoring of system-generated alerts in 2019, and the submission of regulatory reports within the required deadlines. Standard Bank has fully remediated the concerns through a comprehensive remediation programme," it said.
"It is important to note that these administrative sanctions in no way imply that Standard Bank has been found guilty of facilitating transactions for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing."
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.