As we head into the final stretch of 2026, it’s hard to complain about life in Gauteng. The days are getting longer, the jacarandas are starting to show off once again, and the welcome shift into warmer weather is a reminder that the year-end countdown has well and truly begun.
For cricket fans, the month also delivered plenty to talk about following the recent South Africa–Australia series result, which sparked its fair share of celebration, debate, and analysis around the coffee machine.
While many businesses are starting to turn their attention to year-end planning, reporting deadlines, and 2027 budgets, the regulators certainly haven’t slowed down.
THE FINANCIAL SECTOR CONDUCT AUTHORITY (FSCA)
FSCA Integrated Report 2025/2026
The FSCA Integrated Report for 2025/2026 highlights a year of steady progress by the FSCA in strengthening market conduct regulation, enhancing consumer protection, supporting financial literacy, and preparing for significant regulatory reforms, most notably the Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill.
Key highlights included:
- South Africa’s successful exit from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, supported by strengthened anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) supervision and enforcement by the FSCA.
- Continued preparation for implementation of the COFI Bill, with the FSCA embedding conduct-focused principles into its regulatory framework and supervisory approach.
- Strong enforcement outcomes, with 678 investigations finalised and administrative penalties of approximately R2.8 billion imposed to deter misconduct and promote confidence in the financial sector.
- Ongoing supervision of a rapidly evolving financial sector, including increased oversight of crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), retirement funds, and insurers.
- Progress in sustainable finance, including work on environmental, social, and governance oversight (ESG), responsible investment practices, green finance initiatives, and climate-related regulatory developments.
Operationally, the FSCA achieved 85% of its planned performance targets, maintained an unqualified audit opinion, grew revenue to R1.24 billion, and reported a surplus of R119 million. The regulator also advanced its digital transformation programme, including the development of its Integrated Regulatory System and enhanced cybersecurity capabilities.
FSCA provisionally withdraws five licences
The FSCA has recently intensified its supervisory and enforcement activities, provisionally withdrawing the licences of five financial services providers (FSPs) following investigations that identified serious governance, conduct, and operational concerns. These actions reinforce the regulator’s commitment to protecting consumers and maintaining confidence in South Africa’s financial sector.
The affected entities include Kift Wealth (Pty) Ltd; Eklavya Asset Managers (Pty) Ltd; Astrix Data (Pty) Ltd, currently known as IGM Financial Services (Pty) Ltd; FXNovus (Pty) Ltd; and The Grand Trading (Pty) Ltd.
The first three matters involved allegations of serious misconduct, including the unauthorised use of client funds, failures to safeguard client assets, the provision of financial services beyond licence conditions, misleading representations to clients, and concerns regarding unlawful discretionary trading activities. In the case of Astrix Data (now IGM Financial Services), the FSCA’s investigation was linked to allegations of a fraudulent investment operation involving forex and cryptocurrency products.
The more recent actions against FXNovus (Pty) Ltd and The Grand Trading (Pty) Ltd highlight a different but equally significant regulatory concern: governance and oversight. The FSCA found preliminary evidence suggesting that the businesses were effectively directed and controlled by individuals based in Cyprus who fell outside the FSPs’ formal management structures and the effective supervision of their Key Individuals. The regulator expressed concerns regarding the ability of the FSPs and their Key Individuals to exercise proper management, oversight, and control over regulated activities.
As a consequence of the provisional withdrawals, the affected firms may no longer conduct financial services business or receive additional client funds while the investigations continue. The FSCA has emphasised that the withdrawals are provisional and that each firm has been afforded an opportunity to make representations before a final decision is taken.
These cases serve as an important reminder to FSPs that regulatory compliance extends beyond technical licensing requirements. Effective governance, demonstrable oversight by Key Individuals, accurate client communications, proper safeguarding of client assets, and strict adherence to licence conditions remain fundamental expectations of the FSCA. The recent enforcement actions also demonstrate the regulator’s increasing willingness to intervene where deficiencies create a risk of harm to clients or undermine market integrity.
Warnings
The FSCA has issued a warning against Maivest, advising consumers to exercise caution when dealing with the platform. According to the regulator, Maivest has been promoting investment opportunities, copy-trading services, referral rewards, and team-based incentive schemes, despite not being authorised by the FSCA to provide financial services in South Africa.
The public was urged to exercise caution when dealing with Quilta FX Trade, which is reportedly offering Bitcoin and other crypto-asset trading services while purporting to be an authorised financial services provider. The FSCA has confirmed that Quilta FX is not authorised to provide financial services in South Africa and has urged investors to verify the licensing status of service providers before investing. The regulator also highlighted common warning signs of investment scams, including unrealistic returns, upfront payment requests, social media solicitations, and pressure to act urgently.
A warning was issued regarding individuals impersonating Mattercap Investments (Pty) Ltd (FSP 53672) on Telegram and soliciting investments from the public. Mattercap has confirmed that it is not associated with these individuals.
The FSCA has also warned the public against Sappi Online Investment, which has reportedly been using the FSP number of Sanlam Life Insurance Ltd on Telegram to create the impression that it is an authorised FSP. The FSCA confirmed that the FSP number belongs to Sanlam, that Sanlam has no association with Sappi Online, and that Sappi Online is not authorised to provide financial services in South Africa. The scheme allegedly solicits funds from members of the public by promising unrealistic payouts.
The regulator further warned consumers about individuals impersonating the FSCA and its Commissioner, Unathi Kamlana. Members of the public reportedly received WhatsApp communications from an individual claiming to be a senior lawyer in the FSCA’s Investigations Department and providing a fraudulent “letter of authority” stating that consumers may be entitled to refunds from grant funds misused in investment schemes. The FSCA confirmed that it is not involved in grant-related refunds, that the individual is not an FSCA employee, and that the matter is under investigation.
The FSCA reiterated the importance of verifying the authorisation status of any FSP before investing funds, and warned consumers against unsolicited investment offers, particularly those distributed through social media channels. The regulator highlighted several common fraud indicators, including promises of unrealistic returns, upfront payment requirements, pressure to act urgently, and vague product information.
FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE CENTRE (FIC)
FIC Annual Report 2025/2026
The FIC Annual Report for 2025/2026 highlights a pivotal year in South Africa’s fight against financial crime, marked by the country’s successful exit from the FATF grey list in October 2025 and significant enhancements to the frameworks for AML, CTF, and combating the financing of proliferation (CFP).
Key achievements reported by the FIC during the year included:
- Production of 4,194 financial intelligence reports, including proactive, reactive, illicit financial flow, and forensic reports.
- Contributions to the recovery of approximately R37.5 million in criminal proceeds.
- Blocking of R34.2 million in suspected proceeds of crime through section 34 interventions.
- Conducting 549 risk-based inspections and completing 160 compliance reviews across accountable institutions.
- Maintaining a clean audit opinion with no material findings.
The report reflects increasing regulatory expectations on accountable institutions. The number of institutions registered with the FIC increased to more than 60,000, with significant growth among legal practitioners, credit providers, CASPs, and life insurers.
The FIC continues to emphasise risk-based supervision, focusing on the quality of risk management and compliance programmes (RMCPs), customer due diligence, beneficial ownership identification, sanctions screening, and regulatory reporting.
Enhanced enforcement activity resulted in sanctions against a range of accountable institutions for failures relating to RMCPs, customer due diligence, reporting, governance, and targeted financial sanctions screening.
CASPs remain a key regulatory focus, with further implementation of the “travel rule” and increased supervisory activity.
Beneficial ownership transparency continues to be strengthened, supporting efforts to combat corruption, money laundering, and the misuse of complex legal structures.
Looking ahead, South Africa is preparing for the next FATF mutual evaluation commencing in 2026. Proposed legislative amendments are expected to further strengthen AML, CTF, and CFP requirements, including enhanced information-sharing powers, expanded record-keeping obligations, and greater oversight of emerging risks and technologies.
The report underscores the importance of entities maintaining effective compliance frameworks, robust customer due diligence processes, and proactive financial crime controls as regulators continue to focus on the practical effectiveness of South Africa’s AML regime.
FIC consults on scope of precious metals and precious stones dealers
The FIC has issued draft Public Compliance Communication (PCC) 126 for public consultation. The PCC provides guidance on the interpretation of dealers in precious metals and precious stones as a sub-category of high-value goods dealers under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (38 of 2001).
The draft guidance seeks to clarify which entities fall within the accountable institution framework, with particular emphasis on businesses holding licences or permits issued by the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator. Entities meeting the definition may be required to register with the FIC and comply with applicable AML and CTF obligations.
Businesses involved in the precious metals and precious stones sectors should review the draft guidance to determine whether they fall within the scope of accountable institutions and ensure appropriate FICA compliance measures are in place.
Updated Targeted Financial Sanctions (TFS) Manual
The FIC has released its updated Targeted Financial Sanctions Manual, providing guidance on South Africa’s implementation of United Nations Security Council sanctions. The manual reminds accountable institutions of their obligations to screen clients against the TFS list, freeze assets of sanctioned persons or entities without delay, and submit the required reports to the FIC.
Institutions are encouraged to remain subscribed to TFS notifications and ensure screening is conducted both at onboarding and on an ongoing basis. The guidance highlights that non-compliance with TFS obligations may result in administrative sanctions or criminal liability under the FIC Act (38 of 2001) and the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act (33 of 2004).
User Guide for Geographic Location Reporting
The user guide on the submission of information in terms of Directive 10 provides practical guidance on how accountable institutions must comply with Directive 10 by submitting and maintaining information relating to their head offices, branches, and subsidiaries on the FIC’s goAML platform.
The guide confirms that institutions must ensure all geographic locations are accurately recorded and kept up to date, either by creating new delegated organisations under an existing head office registration or by linking existing branch registrations to a head office profile. It also clarifies that these submissions do not create separate accountable institution registrations and do not change existing regulatory reporting obligations.
The FIC has included detailed step-by-step instructions for completing the process on goAML, together with documentary requirements and guidance on managing branch and subsidiary registrations.
PRUDENTIAL AUTHORITY (PA)
Draft Liquidity Risk Management Framework for Insurers
Prudential Standard FSI 6: Liquidity Risk Management for Insurers has been released by the PA for public consultation, with comments due by 27 November 2026. The proposed framework will replace the current liquidity risk assessment standard and will align South Africa’s prudential requirements more closely with international insurance supervisory standards.
The draft standard introduces a formal Insurance Liquidity Ratio (ILR) requirement, under which insurers must maintain sufficient High-Quality Liquid Assets (HQLA) to meet stressed liquidity needs over a 30-day period. The framework also strengthens expectations regarding liquidity risk governance, board oversight, risk appetite, stress testing, contingency funding plans, and Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) reporting.
Supporting documents published with the draft standard include a proposed determination of qualifying HQLA asset classes and regulatory haircuts, detailed implementation guidance, and a new Liquidity Risk Return. The proposed reporting return requires insurers to submit monthly liquidity reports via the Umoja Portal within 20 business days after month-end, covering both business-as-usual and stressed cash flow projections, together with ILR calculations.
The proposals represent a significant enhancement of prudential liquidity risk management requirements and are expected to require insurers to review their liquidity governance frameworks, stress testing methodologies, investment portfolios, and regulatory reporting capabilities ahead of implementation.
NATIONAL CONSUMER COMMISSION (NCC)
The NCC has published draft Guidelines for Compliance with the Opt-Out Registry Regulations, 2026, setting out how businesses must comply with South Africa’s enhanced direct marketing opt-out framework.
The guidelines will require all direct marketers, including insurers and financial institutions, to register with the National Opt-Out Registry before conducting direct marketing and to cleanse marketing databases monthly against the Registry. Consumers will be able to register general or sector-specific pre-emptive blocks on marketing communications, which marketers must respect regardless of prior consent.
The guidelines also confirm that ordinary servicing, claims, policy administration, and other non-promotional communications remain permissible, while non-compliance may result in regulatory enforcement and penalties.
A-PROOFED
I’ve written 57 articles for the Omega Compliance Solutions Legislative Update since November 2019. That’s 32,718 words of brilliance! Yes, I went back and counted. I mean, I’m a proofreader. What else would you expect? I know that it goes to about 200 email addresses, and I suspect that if 10% of those recipients have read my contributions, I’m doing rather well.
Of course, my articles appear at the very bottom of the Legislative Update. There’s something quite symbolic about that. I write about the importance of getting every word right, and my own words are tucked away at the point where the Legislative Update comes to a natural end. It’s entirely possible that my readership consists of Bryan, who has to deal with me, and the occasional person who’s scrolled too far and can’t find their way back up.
And yet, here I am, about to write another one. Clearly, I haven’t learnt my lesson. Or perhaps I’m hoping that one day someone will read an article, find it useful, and tell a colleague. At this rate, word of mouth could take a while.
But this brings me to something I see in my proofreading work all the time. We’re all busy, and when a document needs to go out, the temptation is to get it done and move on. We’ve read it ourselves, spellcheck hasn’t objected, and someone else in the team has had a look. What could possibly go wrong?
Quite a lot, actually. Spellcheck is perfectly happy with a sentence that’s grammatically correct but says the opposite of what you intended. It won’t necessarily spot a missing word, a duplicated paragraph, a figure that doesn’t match the one on the previous page, or a sentence that makes sense in isolation but not in the context of the document. And the more familiar we are with our own writing, the easier it is to read what we meant to write rather than what’s actually there.
Now we have ChatGPT and Claude, which can be genuinely useful for checking writing, improving clarity, and spotting mistakes. But AI isn’t infallible, either. It can miss errors, misunderstand what you mean, and even introduce new mistakes while confidently assuring you that everything is fine. Confidence, as we know, isn’t the same as competence. If it were, we’d all be qualified to do just about anything.
The problem is that proofreading is a grudge purchase. Nobody wakes up thinking, “Lovely day. I think I’ll spend money on someone to check my commas.” It’s much more tempting to assume that we’ve done enough already. And sometimes, we have. But when a document goes to clients, regulators, employees, or the public, an avoidable mistake can undermine the message, create confusion, or leave your organisation looking less professional than it is.
You wouldn’t necessarily ask the person who prepared a document to be the only person checking it. Nor should you assume that spellcheck or an AI tool has done the job for you. A fresh pair of human eyes can make all the difference, particularly when the wording matters.
So, if you’ve made it this far, thank you. You’ve made my day, and you’ve proved that my articles aren’t entirely shouting into the void. If you’ve got a document that needs checking, I’d love to hear from you. Send it my way, and let me worry about the commas, the spelling, the missing words, and all those little mistakes that have a nasty habit of slipping through when nobody’s looking.
You’ve got enough to worry about without wondering whether your documents are embarrassing you behind your back. Let me do the worrying for you.
083 657 3377 | kim@a-proofed.co.za
www.a-proofed.co.za
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