Banker S.A. June 2013 | Page 23

SA REGULATION Regulation: the art of getting it right The rules and laws governing banking have grown from an ongoing process of co-operation between The Banking Association and several organs of government. S outh Africa has been able to comply with tougher global capital requirements under the Basel regime because of the “exceptional” relationship and collaboration between The Banking Association and the local regulators, says Mark Brits, General Manager for Special Projects at The Banking Association. He says that as a result of this collaboration, South Africa has been able to meet the deadline for the implementation of regulations such as Basel II, II.5 and now Basel III, which is being implemented in phases until 2019. Brits says the next few years will be crucial for South Africa’s financial sector as The Banking Association will continue to be involved in the implementation of Basel III, as well as collaborating with the authorities in the implementation of the twin-peaks regulatory regime that is being introduced by National Treasury. ‘We therefore see ourselves also interacting quite closely not only with the South African Reserve Bank and National Treasury, but also with the Financial Services Board,’ says Brits. Under the twin-peak regime, the central bank will be in charge of prudential regulatory matters and the FSB will be in charge of market conduct of the financial sector. Brits likens the relationship between The Banking Association and the regulators to that of a hand and a glove. Edition 6 Subbed Banker 6 How BASA lobbied government.indd 21 BANKER SA 21 2013/07/18 8:03 AM