Financial sector reporting requirements clarified

All financial sector timeframes for complying with prudential and related supervisory reporting requirements will remain in place during the State of Disaster and lockdown – with a few exceptions, CompliNEWS contributor Pam Saxby reports. This was confirmed on shortly before the Easter weekend in a media statement issued by the South African Reserve Bank in its capacity as Prudential Authority. Among other things, the statement notes that – while ‘many organisations have adapted their work methods and improved their use of technology to assist with continued operations, including virtual interactions, many operational aspects have been severely impacted’.

They include managements’ ability to ‘review and sign off certain reports’ required in terms of ‘internal control and governance processes’ – and the ability of auditors to conduct their work ‘without material limitations or hindrances’. As a result, the timeframes for submitting consolidated annual financial statements, audit reports (and, in some cases, public disclosures) have been extended for banks, their controlling companies and the branches of foreign institutions, as well as mutual banks and insurers. The new deadlines are set out in an annexure to the statement. Supervised entities are advised to proactively liaise with the Prudential Authority should they ‘experience challenges’ in complying with any reporting requirements.