NATIONAL CREDIT REGULATOR
Reserve Bank and Treasury pushed for smaller African Bank fine
The Reserve Bank, the Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry intervened in the work of the National Credit Regulator (NCR) in 2013 and persuaded it to reduce its R300m fine on African Bank for reckless trading to R20m. Undermining the independence of the regulator was "unwise, to say the least" and "very unfortunate", said Pan-African Investment & Research Services CEO Iraj Abedian. Department of Trade and Industry director-general Lionel October confirmed the intervention in a briefing last week to Parliament’s trade and industry portfolio committee on the debt-relief measures set out in the National Credit Amendment Bill. It prompted a call by DA spokesman for trade and industry Dean Macpherson for an investigation into the matter by Parliament’s trade and industry committee. In 2013 it was reported that the NCR referred a case of reckless lending against African Bank to the National Consumer Tribunal with the recommendation that the bank be fined R300m. This led to a s...
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