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Pretoria - South Africa's government will amend the country's Reserve Bank Act to tighten rules on shareholding in the central bank, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Monday.
The government and South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) have said some shareholders in the institution were pushing for nationalisation of the bank so that they could be paid for their shares.
Sarb is one of only a few central banks in the world owned by private shareholders, although they have no say in the running and policies of the institution.
In March, Gordhan accused some Sarb shareholders of trying to manipulate conditions for the bank's liquidation for their own gain.
Replying to a written parliamentary question by Dion George of the Democratic Alliance, Gordhan said at the time that no changes were being considered to the bank's shareholding structure.
Some of Sarb’s 627 shareholders have asked to be paid out which would effectively nationalise the institution, which at average over-the-counter levels this year of R11.49/share would give the bank a market capitalisation of just over R20m.
There are about two million shares in issue. However, shareholders have been saying the bank is worth much more with a figure of R13bn being mentioned at one point.
Gordhan has resisted the notion of a payout. "A central bank is a national asset and exists for the public good. It is not a for-profit organisation,” he said in the past.
"At present there is a group of shareholders who appear to have no interest in the public interest function of the bank, and whose motives are driven by self-interest.
"They are attempting to create the conditions that would result in a liquidation of the bank which would result in a significant windfall gain for them at the expense of the country.
"This is clearly not in the national interest. The Reserve Bank needs to be able to continue to carry out its constitutional mandate without these distractions," Gordhan said.
Replying to a question by Nic Koornhof of the Congress of the People, he said shares in the bank had a nominal value of R1 per share with a dividend of 10c per share.
- Reuters
