Chairperson, it's not every day that I follow on the hon Gibson and particularly not when he is delivering his maiden speech in this House. I had the privilege that he had to listen and was forced to listen to my maiden speech in 1981 in the old Transvaal Provincial Council. We served there together for five years, but I think he will make a worthwhile contribution over here and in the spirit of that we wish to welcome him, particularly as a new maiden to this particular setup. [Laughter.]
The Banks Amendment Bill is really a Bill that is based on a convention, on a conference and that type of thing and it is very, very positive that what has happened there and that South Africa can be part of this Basel II convention. The Amendment Bill introduces a plethora of new concepts in the definition sections of the Bank Act and to be in line with the spirit of the revised international framework known as Basel II.
The Basel II framework is based on a three-pronged structure comprising of minimum capital requirements, the supervision review process and market discipline. The IFP hopes that this Bill has captured most of the important recommendations of the Basel II framework and that the banks will over time derive positive benefits for compliance and, therefore, the IFP will definitely support this Bill.
Although Fedentia is not a bank, it has been masquerading in terms of certain of its investments that it has wilfully and meaningfully misled the organisations that are investing monies with banks and I think this is also an aspect that the Reserve Bank, via the Financial Services Board could take up and be sectored in terms of certain of these things. We support and thank you for the opportunity. Thank you. [Applause.]