South Africa - Apply for a Registration of a Bank

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Procedure

Step 1: Pre-application consultation with Prudential Authority (PA)

1. To Apply for a Registration of a Bank, the applicant has to contact the PA by email or telephone to request a pre- application request.
2. The pre-application meeting provides prospective applicants with an opportunity to discuss their proposed business plans. It will also allow the PA to highlight any areas the applicant might need to address. The applicant will have the opportunity to ask questions about the authorisation process.
3. The PA’s contact details are as follows- Telephone: +27 12 313 3911 Email: [email protected]
4. Before the initial meeting, the applicant will be required to prepare a brief high-level summary of its business proposition. As a minimum, the aforementioned brief should contain:
   • A reason why the applicant wants to establish the relevant financial institution
   • The applicant’s initial business proposition and strategy, including a business plan the products to be offered, how the products will be offered and the target market;
   • An indication of the sources of funding, how the applicant proposes to fund the business and whether it has any investors and/or funding in place
   • Details of proposed owners and controllers, as far as they are known
   • Corporate governance, including details of the structure, board, senior management and governance arrangements, as far as they are known and
   • A project plan, including an overview and timeline of the applicant’s plan to set up the financial institution.

Step 2: Submission of application

1. An application form will be provided to the applicant by the concerned officer.
2. The applicant has to fill in all the necessary details in the application form. (Incomplete applications are not accepted)
3. Two copies of the final application, each signed by the chairperson of the board or the chief executive officer of the applicant, including all the required information and supporting documentation as set out in the annexures also mentioned in the “Required Documents” section of this page, should be submitted to the PA.
4. the applicant submits the application by directly approaching the Prudential Authority of South African reserve bank link or the applicant the submit the application via the following email - [email protected]

Step 3: Processing and notification

1. All applications are processed within a reasonable time, having regard to the particular circumstances of each application, including the completeness of information and documents submitted to the PA by the applicant.
2. The PA may seek additional information from an applicant if this is necessary to assess the application. The PA does not need to deal further with an application until the applicant has provided this additional information.
3. The PA will make a decision independently on whether or not to grant an application
4. When the PA grants an application for registration, it will notify the applicant in writing.
5. This entire process can be completed within 30 days or as per the timeline advised by the respective department authority.

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Required Documents

• Completed application form
• Objectives of the PA
• Public interest
• Financial and other resources available to the applicant
• Ownership
• Governance
• Risk management and internal control systems
• Information and accounting systems
• Compliance with the prescribed legal structure of the entity and
• Prudential requirements.

Office Locations & Contacts

SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK
Prudential Authority
370 Helen Joseph Street,
Pretoria, 0002
P O Box 427,
Pretoria, 0001
Telephone: +27 12 313 3911
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Contact link

Eligibility

• Applicants proposing to operate as banks or subsidiaries/branches of foreign banks (hereinafter collectively referred to as banks) must have a minimum capital of R250 million. Applicants proposing to operate as mutual banks must have a minimum capital of R10 million.

Fees

• The applicant has to pay the prescribed fee as per the authority’s request.

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• This entire process can be completed within 30 days or as per the timeline advised by the respective department authority.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Applicants must complete the application form before submitting it. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
• Applicants must provide genuine information while applying for this procedure.

No person shall use the word ‘bank’ in a business name unless:

• The business in question is a bank, branch or representative office of a foreign institution;
• The business in question is registered as a controlling company in respect of a bank; or
• Such name or description is composed of words that include the word ‘bank’ as part of a place name or a personal name.

Required Information

• Name of the applicant
• Address
• Email
• Telephone
• Details of owner
• Details of share holders
• Details of board members
• Details of controllers

Need for the Document

• The Prudential Authority’s (PA) authorisation process in respect of applicants seeking authorisation and/or registration to carry on the business of a bank in the Republic of South Africa (Republic), in accordance with the Banks Act 94 of 1990 (Banks Act) or the Mutual Banks Act 124 of 1993 (Mutual Banks Act)

Information which might help

For more information link

• The PA’s objectives are to promote and enhance the safety and soundness of financial institutions that provide financial products and securities services, to protect financial customers against the risk that those financial institutions may fail to meet their obligations and to assist in maintaining financial stability.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Link

Others

The conduct of the business of a bank therefore entails the ongoing management of risks, which may arise from the bank’s or mutual bank’s on-balance sheet or off-balance sheet activities and which may include the following types of risk:

• Credit risk
• market risk arising from banking business and trading activities;
• liquidity risk
• interest rate risk
• solvency risk
• Operational risk
• any other risk regarded as material.

Banks and mutual banks are expected to have in place comprehensive risk management processes, practices and procedures, and board approved policies to identify, measure, monitor, control, appropriately price, appropriately mitigate and appropriately communicate or report the afore-mentioned risks