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Cape Town – National Treasury released two new documents on Thursday which form part of government’s financial sector regulation programme.
The Financial Sector Regulation Bill (also called Twin Peaks) will make its way back to Parliament when the legislature resumes its activities on August 16, and National Treasury has therefore released its formal responses to Parliament following comments received from the public.
In addition to comprehensive comments in response to the public hearings, National Treasury also published a further draft of the bill to cater for the comments submitted.
It is important to note that this revised draft should be seen as a proposal to Parliament’s standing committee on finance which will be deliberating on the bill, National Treasury said in a statement. Parliament will make the final decision on the changes to the bill.
The Twin Peaks bill was first introduced for public comment in December 2013 and a revised version was published in December 2014.
The bill aims to establish a new prudential regulator under the helm of the Reserve Bank that will be responsible for regulating all financial institutions – banks, insurance houses and the asset management sector. Currently the Financial Services Board is overseeing the conduct of insurance houses and asset managers, but in future the body will be tasked with regulating market conduct and protecting consumers.
With the bill, Treasury wants to increase protection of South African consumers and regulate market conduct, while at the same time creating a more stable financial system.
In addition to the Twin Peaks bill comments, National Treasury also published new ministerial regulations in terms of the Financial Markets Act.
“The regulations are necessary to advance South Africa’s commitment to the G20 obligations to make financial markets safer and better regulate over the counter derivatives markets,” the statement said.
