Banking in South Africa is centred on the

South African Reserve Bank The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is the central bank of South Africa. It was established in 1921 after Parliament passed an act, the "Currency and Bank Act of 10 August 1920", as a direct result of the abnormal monetary and financial condit ...

(SARB), which is the monetary authority and controls gold and foreign exchange reserves.

Legislation and regulatory authorities

* Banks Act, 1990. * Financial Sector Regulation Act, 2017. Prudential Authority within SARB. * Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 and Financial Intelligence Centre. * Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS). * National Credit Regulator (NCR) National Credit Act, 2005 (NCA). * Information Regulator and Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPI).

Commercial banking

Commercial banking in the country is dominated by the "big five" banks:

Standard Bank Standard Bank Group Limited is a major South African bank and financial services group. It is Africa's biggest lender by assets. The company's corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is situated in Simmonds Street, Johannesburg. History ...

FirstRand FirstRand Limited, also referred to as FirstRand Group is the holding company of FirstRand Bank, and is a financial services provider in South Africa. It is one of the financial services providers licensed by the Reserve Bank of South Africa, t ...

, Absa,

Nedbank Nedbank Group is a financial services group in South Africa offering wholesale and retail banking services as well as insurance, asset management, and wealth management. Nedbank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nedbank Group. Nedbank's ...

, and

Investec Investec is an Anglo-South African international banking and wealth management group. It provides a range of financial products and services to a client base in Europe, Southern Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Investec is dual-listed on the London S ...

. , they control nearly 90% of the sector's total assets.

References

Banking in South Africa {{south-africa-stub