Banks Act, 1990 (Act No. 94 of 1990)

Chapter III : Authorisation to Establish, and Registration and Cancellation of Registration of, Banks

Purchase

(1)	Any person who wishes to conduct the business of a bank may apply to the Authority for authorization to establish such a bank.

[Section 12(1) substituted by section 25(c)(i) of Act No. 9 of 1993]

(2)	An application under subsection (1)—

(a)	shall be made in the manner and on the form prescribed in the Regulations relating to Banks; and

(b)	shall be accompanied by a statement containing the information prescribed in the Regulations relating to Banks.

[Section 12(2) substituted by section 8(a) of Act No. 19 of 2003]

(3)	The Authority may require an applicant contemplated in subsection (1) to furnish him or her with—

[Words preceding section 12(3)(a) substituted by section 8(b) of Act No. 19 of 2003]

(a)	such information or documents, in addition to information and documents furnished by the applicant in terms of subsection (2); or

(b)	a report by a public accountant as defined in section 1 of the Auditing Profession Act, 2005 (Act No. 26 of 2005), or by any other knowledgeable person approved by the Authority, on such aspects relating to the application in question,

[Section 12(3)(b) substituted by section 6 of Act No. 20 of 2007]

as the Authority may deem necessary.

(4)

(a)	This subsection only applies to a national state-owned company as defined in paragraph (a) of the definition of ‘state-owned company’ in section 1 of the Companies Act.

(b)	A state-owned company may only with the approval of the Minister, granted with the concurrence of the Minister who is accountable to Parliament for that state-owned company, apply for authorisation to establish a bank in terms of subsection (1).

(c)	An application in terms of paragraph (b) shall include a declaration by the auditor of the state-owned company, contemplated in section 61, that certifies that for the period of 24 months immediately preceding the date of the application, the assets of—

(i)	the state-owned company exceeded its liabilities;

(ii)	the holding company of the state-owned company exceeded the holding company’s liabilities; and

(iii)

the holding company of the state-owned company’s holding company exceeded the liabilities of the first-mentioned holding company (if applicable).

(d)	For purposes of the application of this Act to state-owned companies, a provision of this Act which is inconsistent with a provision of another Act, other than the Financial Sector Regulation Act, shall prevail.

[Section 12(4) inserted by section 11 of the Financial Matters Amendment Act, 2019 (Act No.18 of 2019), Notice No. 799, GG 42482, dated 23 May 2019]