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Johannesburg - Absa, one of South Africa's largest banks, said it would only withdraw a home loan if instructed to do so by a client.
"We'd withdraw a bond if the customer instructs us to do so - and this must be done in writing," said Gavin Opperman, managing executive for Absa Home Loans on Tuesday.
Opperman added that Absa believed strongly in its stringent underwriting.
"We make an assessment based on several factors including the type of residence - if it's a holiday home or a buy-to-let property."
Absa also took into account the location of the property, the size of the loan requested and current economic conditions.
"Our actions not only protect the bank but the customer too."
On Monday, First National Bank said it was not withdrawing already approved bonds, but rather "reassessing" these bonds where homes had not yet been transferred - prompting criticism from the ombud for banking services, advocate Clive Pillay.
On Tuesday, however, Pillay met FNB and said afterwards he was satisfied that FNB's criteria to re-assess home loan applications were fair.
FNB stressed that the home loan applications being re-assessed were those that took up to a year or longer to register, were of a development-type nature (excluding building bonds), and were not those that normally take three to four months to transfer and register.
- Sapa