(Adds details)
JOHANNESBURG Jan 10 (Reuters) – South Africa’s
Reserve Bank says it will not lengthen the time lenders in the
country will have to comply with the new global Basel III
banking rules, as they will have enough notice by which to
implement the regulations, a senior official said.
“The South Africa Reserve Bank remains committed to the time
lines stipulated by the Basel III regulations,” Hlengani
Mathebula, the bank’s head of Strategy and Communications
Department, told Reuters.
“One must remember that the time lines contained in the
Basel III regulations allow for sufficient planning and
preparation. The whole global banking industry is facing the
same challenges.”
Mathebula said a decision on the new regulations would be
made “shortly” to allow the banks enough time to beat the 2015
deadline for liquidity requirements.
South African lenders have plenty of capital, but due to
their reliance on short-term funding, they are likely to face
big hurdles to increase their liquid assets. The rules have been
created to help avoid another financial meltdown and taxpayer
bailouts.
Tough regulation helped lenders in Africa’s biggest economy
– where banks such as Absa Group, FirstRand,
Standard Bank and Nedbank are relatively well
capitalised – through the worst of the global credit crisis.
Mathebula said that although the country’s banks are
financially sound and profitable, the likelihood of a takeover
bid by a global bank with a broader African strategy in mind was
slim due to the global financial turmoil.
HSBC walked away from talks to buy a majority stake
in Nedbank, South Africa’s fourth-largest lender, in 2010.
“The current global financial climate combined with the
future Basel III capital requirements may, in the short term at
least, make it unlikely but not impossible for an approach by a
foreign bank,” he said.
(Reporting by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura)
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
