Absa report: It’s a long story
For any recourse to be awarded for the series of bailouts the Reserve Bank provided to Bankorp, a complex history will have to be taken into consideration
Other than as some half-baked bid to show "white monopoly capital", it’s unclear why new public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane should have allowed the leak of a provisional report on the assistance the SA Reserve Bank gave Bankorp more than 20 years ago. Her contention that Absa could be forced to refund (taxpayers) an effective R2.25bn if the remedial actions proposed by her predecessor, Thuli Madonsela, "remain unchanged" is mere bluster. For a start, there’s little chance the report will stay unchanged. It’s a provisional report because parties — such as Absa, national treasury and the Reserve Bank — haven’t commented. So what’s this all about? Between 1985 and 1992 the National Party-led government provided a series of bailouts at a preferential interest rate to Bankorp, a bank holding company that consisted of several banks, including Trust Bank, Senbank and Mercabank. It’s contended that the R1.1bn assistance given to Bankorp in 1992 led to a R2.25bn profit on the preferential i...
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