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Competition Act, 1998 (Act No. 89 of 1998)

Regulations

COVID-19 Block Exemption for the Banking Sector 2020

2. Purpose

 

The purpose of these Regulations is to exempt a category of agreements or practices between Banks, Banking Association of South Africa and/or Payments Association of South Africa from the application of sections 4 and 5 of the Act in response to the declaration of COVID-19 pandemic as a national disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act, solely for the purpose of:

 

2.1. promoting concerted conduct to prevent an escalation of the national disaster and to alleviate, contain and minimise the effects of the national disaster;

 

2.2. enabling the banking sector to minimise the negative impact on the ability of customers, including both business and private individuals, to manage their finances during the national disaster, and be in a position to continue normal operations beyond the national disaster.

 

2.3. enabling the banking sector to manage the banking infrastructure, including the payment infrastructure, ATMs and branches.