Capitec Bank has been ordered to pay an administrative penalty of R28 million after the Prudential Authority (PA) identified several shortcomings in the bank’s compliance with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA).
The sanctions followed an inspection conducted by the PA in 2023 and relate to weaknesses in customer due diligence, employee training, risk management and controls designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
What the regulator found
The PA found that Capitec had not adequately carried out customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence and ongoing due diligence on a sample of client files.
Customer due diligence is a key requirement for financial institutions and involves establishing who customers are, understanding their financial activities and assessing the risks associated with their accounts.
The regulator also identified shortcomings in the bank’s ongoing training of employees responsible for complying with FICA requirements.
Further concerns were raised about Capitec’s risk management and compliance programme, particularly processes relating to terrorist-property reporting and financial sanctions.
The PA found that some anti-money-laundering name-screening and payment-screening manuals used by Capitec’s business bank had been implemented without the required management approval.
How the R28 million penalty is structured
The total penalty is R28 million, with R5.5 million conditionally suspended for 36 months.
The PA also issued five cautions instructing Capitec not to repeat the conduct that resulted in the non-compliance.
According to the regulator’s findings, R10 million of the penalty relates to customer due diligence failures, while R5 million each relates to inadequate enhanced due diligence and ongoing due diligence.
A further R3 million was imposed over inadequate ongoing employee training, with the remaining R5 million linked to weaknesses in the bank’s risk management and compliance programme.
Capitec responds
Capitec said the sanction concerns administrative shortcomings in its compliance processes between 2019 and 2023.
“The sanction relates to identified administrative gaps in certain compliance processes, including aspects of client due diligence, training, and regulatory reporting, over the period 2019 to 2023,” the bank said.
Capitec also stressed that the findings did not involve allegations of criminal financial activity.
“Importantly, these findings do not relate to any instances of money laundering, illicit financial activity, fraud, scams or financial loss at Capitec.”
The bank said it recognised the role of the PA and other regulators in enforcing FICA requirements and supporting South Africa’s efforts to strengthen its financial crime controls.
Capitec has faced previous sanctions
The latest penalty follows earlier regulatory action against Capitec.
In 2024, the PA imposed a R56.25 million administrative penalty on the bank following inspections conducted in 2021 and 2022. Of that amount, R10.5 million was conditionally suspended for three years. Those earlier findings included shortcomings involving customer due diligence, transaction monitoring and reporting obligations.
The latest action comes as South Africa continues strengthening its anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing controls after being removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list in October 2025.
Ninety One also sanctioned
The PA also announced separate sanctions against Ninety One Assurance Limited following its own 2023 inspection.
The company was fined R6 million, with R2.5 million conditionally suspended for 36 months. The regulator found shortcomings in its risk management programme for identifying, assessing, monitoring and mitigating risks associated with politically exposed and other high-risk persons and businesses.
