PROFILE
The Banking Association has played
an indispensible role in the finalisation
of the Financial Sector Charter, as well
as facilitating industry inputs into the
evolving regulatory environment and
more recently the transition from Basel I
to Basel II, to Basel II.5.
In particular, he says The Banking Association has managed to bring
together players in the banking sector who, although competitors,
have forged a unity of purpose on issues of national and sectoral
importance through The Banking Association.
‘While banks in South Africa compete strongly with each other
in the client environment, there are also benefits that can be
derived for the industry from collaboration in the non-competitive
environment, and The Banking Association plays a key role in
facilitating this,’ says Brown.
He says that the organisation has played an indispensible role in
the finalisation of the Financial Sector Charter, as well as facilitating
industry inputs into the evolving regulatory environment and more
recently the transition from Basel I to Basel II, to Basel II.5. And now
from beginning of the year, South Africa becoming one of only a
handful of countries around the world to go live on Basel III.
Under Basel rules, banks globally are expected to hold higher
regulatory capital buffers to enable them to withstand cyclical and
unexpected shocks to their sector.
Coovadia says South Africa’s tight regulatory environment is
credited with shielding the banking sector from the worst impact
of the last credit crisis that led to the collapse of major banking
institutions in the US and Europe. South Africa’s banking regulator,
Rene van Wyk, says the country’s top five banks already have capital
buffers well above those stipulated by the Basel Committee on
Banking Supervision, of which South Africa is a committee member.
Brown says the ranking of South Africa’s banking sector by the
World Economic Forum (WEF) is testimony to the collaborative
effort between The Banking Association, local banks and the banking
regulators. ‘Outlining other achievements, Coovadia says The
Banking Association has been a critical player in the development
SABRIC:
A UNIQUE ACHIEVEMENT
For 11 years now the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), which has grown from its initial incarnation as a unit
of The Banking Association South Africa, has been in the vanguard of combating crime at South Africa’s top banks. During that time
the crime threats facing the country’s banks and their clients have developed in ways barely imagined a few years before.
South Africa’s banks responded to this challenge in a unique way. Since 2002, when SABRIC was created at the initiative of the big
local banks, a co-operative approach between all the stakeholders has reaped great rewards.
CEO Kalyani Pillay says SABRIC follows a unique model. ‘We are privileged to have such an enviable model that is characterised
by the collaboration of natural competitors. It really demonstrates the seriousness that our clients place on combating crime.’
Initially a unit of The Banking Association, SABRIC was incorporated as a non-profit company in September 2003. The Banking
Association MD Cas Coovadia, who also chairs SABRIC’s board, explains: ‘SABRIC was established after, as The Banking
Association, we realised that the scale of bank crime in the country was increasing and there were also clear signs that we needed
to collaborate more with law enforcement agencies and other government departments on this issue. As a result, the banks benefit
from economies of scale and collaborate on a common goal. The local banking industry is able to engage in collective crimecombating initiatives without compromising their competitive imperatives.’
When SABRIC was formed, bank robberies were the predominant form of crime to be addressed. Today, instead, says Pillay,
cybercrime – whereby information communication technologies are used to defraud customers – has become the major challenge to
the local industry as it is the case globally.
SABRIC serves a vital communication function between the banking industry and government departments on crime-related issues.
Edition 6
Subbed Banker 6 BASA at 21.indd 11
BANKER SA
11
2013/07/18 8:04 AM