Stringent regulation ‘hampers entry of new banks’
The government should help fund a banking platform for co-operative banks to level the playing field, economic development committee told
Regulation should be eased to allow for second-tier banks so that new entrants can participate in the highly concentrated banking sector, says Competition Commission head Thembinkosi Bonakele. His comments during a presentation of the commission’s annual performance plan to Parliament’s economic development committee comes amid heightened pressure for greater transformation of the financial sector. This has been the focus of extensive parliamentary public hearings, which are likely to result in proposals to change the targets in the financial sector charter and to change licensing requirements for banks. Finance committee chairman Yunus Carrim has lamented the fact that 90% of the banking sector is in the hands of the four major banks. During the public hearings, Co-operative Banks Development Agency chairman Desmond Golding pleaded for the government to take a firm stand on co-operative banking as a tool for financial sector transformation. The legislative and regulatory framework ...
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