FINANCIAL SECTOR: TWO DRAFT BILLS OUT FOR COMMENT, ONE PROPOSING AUDIT SERVICE LEVY

FINANCIAL SECTOR: TWO DRAFT BILLS OUT FOR COMMENT, ONE PROPOSING AUDIT SERVICE LEVY

• 14 November 2026
• Financial Sector
• SA Legal Academy

Shortly before close of business on Friday 13 November 2026, National Treasury gazetted a notice calling for input on two proposed new pieces of legislation only published several hours later on the department’s website. The deadline for comment is 31 January 2027.

According to a memorandum on the objects of the draft Financial Matters Amendment Bill, it seeks to amend:

• the 1990 Banks Act ‘to comply with international standards’
• the 2005 Auditing Profession Act ‘to enhance auditor independence and improve the quality of audits’
• the 2007 Co-operative Banks Act to:

• ‘include co-operative financial institutions within the ambit of the Act’
• enable the Prudential Authority to:

• ‘prescribe certain requirements for the registration of co-operative banks’, and
• ‘grant … registration subject to (those) conditions, and
• provide for registration conversion from savings co-operative financial institutions to savings and loans co-operative financial institutions

• the 2017 Financial Sector Regulation Act to:

• enhance the powers of the Deposit Insurance Corporation and financial sector regulators
• exempt the Corporation from provisions in the 1999 Public Finance Management Act
• expand the mandate of the Financial Services Tribunal to ‘reconsider certain decisions by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors made in terms of the Auditing Profession Act
• rename the Corporation accordingly
• simplify/clarify the process in terms of which financial sector bodies are required to finalise their budgets, and
• propose related levies and fees, and

• the 2017 Insurance Act to provide for fixed timeframes for notification and application submissions to the Prudential Authority.

According to a memorandum on the objects of the draft Audit Service Levy Bill, it seeks to:

• impose a levy on audit firms, and
• provide for exemption from that levy.

Please click the links below for more information:

• draft Financial Matters Amendment Bill
• draft Audit Service Levy Bill
• Government Gazette notice

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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