The Prudential Authority (PA) has clamped down on Absa after the lender failed to undertake due diligence of some of its politically exposed clients linked to state-owned enterprises, among other infractions.
The regulator fined the bank R10m for falling foul of the provisions of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC).
The authority found the lender had not conducted due customer “due diligence on four of its foreign prominent public official client files and two of its politically exposed persons in respect of state-owned enterprises”.
“The PA confirms that Absa co-operated with the PA and has undertaken the necessary remedial action to address the identified compliance deficiencies and control weaknesses,” the PA said.
The regulator has increasingly been clamping down on wayward behaviour as it looks to get SA removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s greylist.
In January the PA imposed administrative sanctions on Standard Bank for its failure to comply with certain provisions of the FIC Act. These consisted of six cautions not to repeat the conduct which led to the noncompliance and a financial penalty totalling R13m.
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