THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
Question 1224
Ms D Carter (Cope) to ask the Minister of Trade and Industry:
(1) Whether his department has investigated why the National Credit
Regulator had not intervened at the first sign of trouble at the
African Bank Investments Limited when the chief financial officer
offered to resign and thus contain the problem rather than let it spin
out of control; if not, why not; if so, why did the National Credit
Regulator not act expeditiously? NW1462E
Response 1224
1) The mandate of the NCR is to regulate the South African credit
industry with a view of protecting consumers from unscrupulous lending
practices. In this regard, the NCR has achieved redress for consumers
through refunds, cancellation of reckless loans and removal of
negative consumer records from credit bureau blacklisting. The NCR
also imposed an administrative penalty on African Bank.
According the NCR, it has no knowledge of the resignation offer of the
Chief Financial Officer of African Bank, Mr Nithia Nalliah as he is
still employed by the bank.
If the question relates to the former Chief Executive Officer of the
African Bank who resigned when the problem came to the fore,
investigations into African Bank had already been conducted by the NCR
by that time.