Standard Bank's Market Value Drops Below 20 Billion Amid Non-compliance Sanction

Standard Bank Group, the Johannesburg-based financial services giant led by South African banker Sim Tshabalala, has seen its market value fall below 20 billion. This comes after the South African Reserve Banks Prudential Authority imposed fresh sanctions on the lender for failing to comply with key financial regulations.

According to stock market data reviewed by Billionaires.Africa , Standard Banks share price on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE dropped over 3 percent, from R221.94 12.1 on Jan. 21 to R215.24 11.7. This decline has shaved R11.2 billion 609.22 million off its market capitalization, reducing it from R371.32 billion 20.18 billion to R360.11 billion 19.57 billion.

On Friday, Jan. 24, the Prudential Authority announced administrative sanctions against Standard Bank for failing to meet critical requirements under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act FIC Act. The penalties, which stemmed from a 2022 compliance inspection, include a fine of R13 million 0.7 million and six formal cautions. Regulators raised concerns over the banks anti-money laundering measures and its handling of financial reporting.

The violations pointed to gaps in due diligence, record-keeping, and the timely reporting of suspicious transactions, according to a statement from the South African Reserve Bank. The Prudential Authority flagged Standard Banks failure to conduct proper ongoing checks on two clients in 2018 and 2019. This led to a caution to prevent repeat offenses. The bank was also criticized for neglecting its record-keeping responsibilities, including missing dates for 43 suspicious or unusual transaction reports submitted to the Financial Intelligence Centre FIC.

More notably, Standard Bank was fined R4 million 0.22 million for delays in reporting 17,259 suspicious transaction and activity reports, as required under the FIC Act. Another R1 million 54,000 penalty was tied to the late reporting of a specific suspicious transaction. Additionally, over 75,000 automated transaction monitoring alerts went unaddressed within the required 48-hour window, and nearly 95,000 were resolved beyond the 15-day period. These breaches resulted in a further R8 million 0.44 million fine.