The Minister of Finance tabled the Financial Sector Regulation (FSR) Bill in Parliament on 27 October 2015, after taking into account comments received on the Bill published in December 2014.
The Twin Peaks system of regulation will, when fully phased in, focus on a more harmonised system of licensing, supervision, enforcement, customer complaints (including ombuds), appeals, and consumer advice and education across the financial sector.
The Bill will be considered by the Standing Committee on Finance in Parliament, which is expected to invite public comments and submissions on the Bill. It is hoped that the Bill will be enacted next year, to enable implementation soon thereafter.
A detailed comments matrix, responding to public comments submitted, is published along with the FSR Bill.
A cursory overview of the comments received, and Treasury’s response to it, indicates a positive response to meaningful input. One example, which was covered in an article by Alan Holton in this publication, concerned the broad definition of “complaint” and “complainant”. Both were deleted in view of the reaction from the industry.
All documents can be found on www.treasury.gov.za/twinpeaks.
