A court case to air the reason that SA banks closed the accounts of the Gupta family-owned Oakbay Investments will be a good thing, says Kuben Naidoo, deputy governor of the SA Reserve Bank and registrar of banks. It would give banks a chance to explain their behaviour. "I think that would be in the public interest," Naidoo tells the Financial Mail, after finance minister Pravin Gordhan filed an application to have a court declare that, as finance minister, he is not by law empowered or obliged to intervene in the relationship between banks and their clients. The claim by Oakbay, after banks closed its accounts, that he should intervene are harmful to the financial sector, existing regulations and the autonomy of regulators and banks, Gordhan says in an affidavit. Oakbay Investments announced in April that Absa, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank had closed its accounts. It accused the banks of collusion and a "sustained political attack" on the family. "The related controversy has rece...
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