THE CODE
Consumer education and information are
becoming integral to sustainable banking
business, and the revised Code enables banks
to provide these in an effective manner.
‘We urge all bank customers to get a copy of the Code of
Banking Practice in order for them to hold us accountable to it,’
says Coovadia.
The Code sets standards, responsibilities and procedures for every
type of interaction with clients in detail, and commits to them. Run
your eye down the contents list and you’ll see sub-headings ranging
from charges, fees, and interest rates, to mortgage loans, foreign
exchange and switching transaction accounts to another bank (this
only applies to transaction accounts, not loan agreements and other
services governed by an individual agreement between bank and
client). The text under many of these headings begins with the
uncompromising phrases ‘We will…’; ‘We undertake to…’; ‘We will
provide you…’ and in some cases (several of them under the heading
of marketing and advertising) ‘We will not…’.
Most topical among consumers and in the press are the sections
on privacy and confidentiality and the sections detailing banks’
commitment to facilitating customers switching transactional
accounts to different banks.
Curiously, Section 5, which is of greater interest to civic
organisations and to the nation as a whole, seems almost to
have slipped under the public’s radar and elicited little sustained
discussion in the press. It is headed ‘Access to Banking Services’
and details the industry’s explicit commitment to providing and
developing affordable and accessible basic banking services to
all South Africans.
Underpinning this commitment are the industry’s principal
commitments to our clients, listed in Section 4.
OUR KEY COMMITMENTS
We, the members of The Banking Association South Africa,
undertake th