The South African Reserve Bank said the Prudential Authority, one of two new regulators to be established in terms of the Financial Sector Regulation Bill, will begin operating April 1.
The authority, which will be carved out of the South African Reserve Bank's department of bank supervision but still operate within the bank, will comprise four departments: Financial conglomerate supervision; banking, insurance and financial market infrastructure supervision; risk support; and policy, statistics and industry support.
Dubbed the "twin peaks" model of regulation because of the separation of the market conduct and prudential functions, the new regime also entails the creation of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority to replace the Financial Services Board.
The bill, which was signed into law by South African President Jacob Zuma in August 2017, also seeks collaboration between the country's financial sector regulators, the National Credit Regulator, the Financial Intelligence Centre and the central bank.
