What is a standard and why does it matter to me?
The Conduct of Financial Institutions Bill
("COFI") will, once finalised and
enacted, disrupt the regulation of the financial sector. The first
draft of COFI proposes to repeal 13 financial sector laws,
replacing them with a single comprehensive market conduct law. COFI
sets out the broad principles that will govern the conduct of
financial institutions, but specific requirements and rules will be
published in Conduct Standards, Prudential Standards or Joint
Standards. Standards are a relatively new innovation in the South
African legal landscape, having first been introduced by the
Financial Sector Regulation Act, 2017 (the
"FSRA"): in this article we will unpack
what you can expect and highlight why it is critically important
that you ensure that you are geared up to consider and comment on
draft standards as they are published.
