CAPE TOWN, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- South African President Jacob Zuma has signed the Financial Sector Regulation Act into law as the government moves to achieve financial stability, the Presidency said on Monday.
The act aims to achieve a financial system that works in the interests of financial customers, and supports balanced and sustainable economic growth in the country, presidential spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said.
Under the law, a regulatory and supervisory framework will be set up to promote financial stability, efficiency and integrity, and to better protect financial institutions and customers.
The act also establishes two new financial regulators, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and the Prudential Authority, with jurisdiction over all financial institutions, and to provide them with a range of supervisory tools, according to Ngqulunga.
South Africa claims to have the most advanced financial system in Africa. But recently, several major banks in the country have been blamed for the weakness of their control measures towards money laundering and terrorism financing.
In May, the SARB, the country's central bank, slapped several local and international banks with administrative fines worth 46.5 million rand (about 3.6 million U.S. dollars) for weak anti-money laundering and combating of financing terrorism controls.
